The Witch of Time
by demondaughters
Summary: Hocus Pocus: The only witches in Salem were the evil Sanderson Sisters...whoever told you that was wrong. Whoever told you that all witches were evil, was dead wrong. Binx did not die with the last of the witches of Salem and reincarnation is possible. OC
1. Prologue

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_Prologue Part I_

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"What is it, Tania?" The eight-year-old's eyes were wide and curious. The water buckets had been put aside, forgotten by the two girls. Within the gentle cupped hands of the elder fluttered a bright mix of majestic orange and black.

"It is called a butterfly, Emily. A monarch butterfly." Tania opened her hands in a small movement to allow the butterfly to climb up her thumb, while folding its wings in and out in time with the girls' breathing.

"Emily! Tania!" The butterfly, startled, beat its wings and floated off into the stream's beauty. The monarch landed on a nearby branch overviewing the creek, as the girls turned to the source of the disturbance. Emily pouted at her older brother, who was coming toward them from off the well-beaten path. Tania immediately got to her feet and grabbed one of the abandoned pails to fill it with water.

"Thackery Binx, thou hast frightened it!" Emily yelled at him as she handed the second bucket to Tania when the older girl called for it. The boy chuckled and hugged his sister from behind.

"What is it that I have frightened?" He asked, staring at Tania, who was pretending to fill the water bucket.

She could feel his eyes on her as she waited for his inevitable reaction. "A butterfly, Thackery. Tania was showing me." Emily said, gesturing toward the waving insect upon the leafy branch.

Thackery moved to shield Emily as his features twisted with fear and anger. "Emily, do not touch it. Tania, thou of all people in this village shouldst know better than to play with the witches' spy." Emily gasped from behind and Tania sighed heavily.

"It is just a butterfly, Thackery." She countered while picking up both pails by their handles. "It can't do any harm."

"Not do any harm? Tania, that demon is the witches' eyes to the world. It is poison." He scolded, angry with the girl that had put his younger sister in harm's way.

"Aye, that it is. But it is only to protect itself from predators." The Binx siblings looked confused but curious. She glanced at them and sighed with impatience. "Never ye mind then." She smiled at them, but it was a sad smile, a lonely one. "Thou art closed-minded, Thackery"

"I am afraid that I do not understand." He said, watching the girl he trusted fall into the devil's hands.

"Aye. I figured you wouldn't. Tell me why dost thou hate magic?"

"Tis unholy. An act of the spawn of –"

"The devil himself." She finished for him. "I thought you might see things that way; hence, you are closed-minded. You cannot see what is right in front of thee."

Thackery held Emily closer to him, backing away slowly. She noticed this but refused to act upon it, rather than give him more reason to hate her. "Thou art a witch, art thou not?" Emily gasped again, clinging to her elder brother as if he were her last lifeline into this world. Tania turned to them with tears in her eyes, yet she refused to let them fall.

"Would you believe me if I said 'nay'? And would thou hate me if I said 'aye'?"

"Aye, Daughter of Hell, for I shall despise anyone who would sell their soul and dance for the devil." This she was expecting, but it was still a shock as she stared at the boy, gaping slightly.

"_You dare…_ I am nothing like the Sanderson hags down in the woods, who deserve every ounce of misfortune that befalls them for what they have done. Hate me if you must, but do not link me with those demons and call us the same. I did not choose to be what I am. I cannot help what I was born with.

Black magic as that which the sisters use, I would never touch. Call magic unholy, Thackery? How can you say that when it is the Lord above that gave us the purest of magic? Try and escape it, but you cannot, for it is all around you: in the water, in the plants, in the sky, in the moon and her brother sun… in ourselves. You try to rid the world of it, and lo and behold, all you have left is barren wasteland. This purest of magic is the kind I use. Please, I only ask, do not change your opinion of me. The girl you have known for eight years is still the girl who stands before you."

The siblings only stared before Thackery moved his sister up the path. "Come along, Emily." He gave his sister a gentle push, and she walked up the path while he remained behind.

"Thackery –"

"For a long time now thou hast been my friend. Now I am sure not to trust thou the same again." He looked at her, and never before had he seen her so defeated. Her head was bowed to hide the tears he thought were running down her normally cheery face.

Looking back on things, he was unsure how he had never known that she withheld something so vastly important before now. A young girl just barely nine years old found almost dead on the edge of the village. There were gaps in her memory and the father called it the response to a most horrific event. She claimed to have lost her family and entire village in an Indian raid that summer and for a long time she wandered around like a lost puppy confused, yet sure of where she was, positive of whom she was: a Miss Tania Miles. She, however, did not know her age or the name of the village she hailed from. The day of her birth she knew quite well, yet the year was lost to her. Eight years ago she wasn't hiding anything except from herself, and the priest called it a miracle of God, but when they were twelve she had fetched water just like today, alone for Emily had yet to be old enough. It began when she came back from that short trip that she hid secrets. More often did she grip the locket around her neck, something she then claimed she'd had since birth. If she had chosen to be a witch and sold her soul to the devil, that would have been the time.

So he did not believe her, and once again she hid something. Another thing separate yet much larger that this. "I do not trust thee, Tania. Thou art a witch and should be treated as such."

Tania closed her eyes, trying to block out all of the pain she felt hearing his words. "When will you tell the council?" She asked in a whisper.

"I shan't." Her head shot up, not believing what she was hearing. "Not yet, at least. You are still hiding something Tania, I can tell."

She met his eyes and nodded. "Yes, you are right, and I hope I will be able to tell thee, but one secret at a time perhaps. Give it time to let the shock subside." Thackery nodded, grabbing hold of one of the buckets Tania held.

"Thou couldst probably use help with these. I believe I have shooed away thy helper."

Tania laughed. "Nay! Tis not necessary. I've managed well enough without her before, if you recall. She is merely good company, which makes up for her hinderance, I believe." They started up the path but didn't go very far before they met with Emily curled up sleeping by a tree. Tania smiled. "Take thy sister, I shall handle the water."

"Very well." He held out the pail and when she had taken it he easily picked up the lightweight girl. The trio made it to Salem just as the sun began to sink beneath the trees, bathing them in an illuminant flame.

"There art thou. Father was about to go searching for thee." Mrs. Binx beckoned the children into the home, closing the door soundly behind her. "Shall not be wanting to be out late these days, not with All Hallows Eve approaching." She turned to her son, Thackery, after placing Emily onto the trundle bed. "Your father is over at the church, Thackery. He was waiting for thee to return."

"I shall go, then." Thackery bowed slightly to his mother, before leaving the house. Tania watched him from the glass window, wondering in the back of her mind if he would keep his word and not tell the council, though he never actually promised not to tell. Mrs. Binx watched the girl curiously.

"He is a good boy. He thinks very highly of thee." Tania turned away from the window, a confused look upon her face. "It is true, ye of little faith." Mrs. Binx said, smiling.

"I have faith," the girl protested.

"Aye, I know. Help me undress Emily, the poor child." Mrs. Binx removed the bonnet atop the young girl's head before moving to the buttons of the black puritan dress.  
Tania brought up the child's nightgown from the trunk at the end of the bed.

"Ma'am?" Tania asked cautiously.

"Aye?"

"I am grateful for all thou hast done for me." Mrs. Binx looked up from her daughter to the young woman before her.

"And what hast brought this about? I was glad to help thee in thy time of need, as thou hast helped me in mine. Thou hast a healing touch, child, thou hast saved my life and Emily's during her birth. What would we have done without thee?"

"They thought me a witch, some still do." Tania sighed, brushing out Emily's hair, who, though awake, was falling quickly into slumber.

"Aye, but the Lord and the Father is on thy side. Emily sees thee as an older sister –"

"But I am but a servant."

"Now, Tania, thou art more than a servant. Thou art as much a member of this family as any. And perhaps in the future, thou shalt be officially a part of this family."

"What dost thou mean?" Tania asked, not looking up from her work.

Mrs. Binx just shook her head gently. "Never thee mind, child." She said, knowing that the girl understood. Tania sat upon the trundle bed that the two girls shared, humming a mournful song.

"That is a pretty song, Tania. I've heard it before…somewhere…" Emily mumbled, snuggling into the sheets.

At this, part of Tania shook. "Where? Where did you hear that song, Emily?" Tania asked urgently panic stricken, and worry mixed with fear plastered across her face.

"In church, I think."

"Emily, Emily, listen to me." Tania said in a panicked whisper. "No church would sing that song: the song of a siren. That song is dangerous; should thee ever hear it again, thou must run away from it. Put thy hands over thy ears and run far away. Emily?" The little girl was asleep and Tania bit her lip hard in anxiety.

"Warn the girl tomorrow, Tania, of Sarah's Song." Tania looked up from Emily to the girl's mother.

"Thou knowest of that song?"

Mrs. Binx nodded, "Aye, all of Salem knows the youngest Sanderson's song. I warn thee, do not allow anyone to hear thee sing it."

"It is burned into my memory; it haunts me over my shoulder. I do not know, but if Sarah Sanderson sings, then it confirms its evil.

"Where didst thou hear it?"

"Back at the village…" She faded her speech, thinking deeply. "If I have a healing touch, Ma'am, why is it that I was unable to save my parents?"

"Child, perhaps it was their time to join the Lord in the holy place on high." Mrs. Binx said, holding Tania's shoulder.

"I miss them, but I know they are in a better place away from the sins of the mortal world."

"Aye, go to sleep child. Give Emily her warning in the morning."

It was as Tania drifted off between the world of the unaware and the aware that she realized that tomorrow might be too late.

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_Hocus Pocus really needs to have it's own page...best Halloween movie ever._

_I'll only have a few chapters end with authors notes. This one, the last one, and perhaps one in the middle to answer any questions people have asked me through reviews. Similarly, dislcaimers will only be placed at the beginning and at the end of this story. _

_Thanks hugely to my beta whose already edited this particular chapter twice!! You're awesome Kimmy!_

_-DD  
September 16, 2009  
began approximately November 2006_


	2. Prologue Part II

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_Prologue Part II_

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_Come Little Children, I'll take thee away__  
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"Emily!"

_Into a land of Enchantment__  
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"Thou shall fail to save thy friends, just as thou failed to save thy sister!"

_Come little Children, the times come to play__  
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"His punishment must be more fulsome, more lingering."

_Here in my garden of magic__  
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"His punishment shall not be to die, but to live forever with his guilt."

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Tania's eyes snapped open panic stricken, breathing heavily. "Emily, Thackery…" In the morning light she now noticed the missing, almost lingering, warmth of the young girl beside her and the empty trundle beside their own. "Oh no," She bolted out of bed throwing her cast aside dress over her head, not even bothering with her boots which lay beside her bed. She flung open the door into the fresh morning air, running toward the open gate and scattering the startled chickens in her haste. Not far off was Elijah, a good friend and neighbor of Thackery. "Elijah! Hast thou seen –"

"Aye, Tania, Emily has been spirited off and Thackery gone after them. I am to wake Mr. Binx and the rest." He pointed toward the woods. An unusual smoke rose above the trees, casting its spell over the morning air.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Go! I'll awaken Master Binx." Elijah gave her a curt nod as they separated Tania running back inside. "Sir! Sir!" She shouted into the house. "The witches have taken Emily and Thackery as well, for he has gone after her." Mr. Binx needed no further convincement than the witches, while his speed and motivation came from the mention of the names of his two children.

Mrs. Binx, having awoken, got down on her knees and prayed. Tania may have joined her, had she not been out the door and halfway to the woods as soon as Mr. Binx acted to her words. Jumping over branches and down the slopes of the woods, Tania ran faster than she had in a long while. Out of practice and out of breath, her effort would be too late to save them.

The woods were old. They remained untouched by man for many years now. The townsfolk did not dare to enter the woods. In the first place, it was because of the wild animals. The second, however, was due to the three sisters that lived just inside the forest. The villagers avoided the woods at all cost, while children were told stories of those that wander into the woods. If any child ever went into the woods, they almost never came out. It was the wood of disappearance.

Tania, who was well aware of the ghost stories, knew that the stories didn't even begin to cover the acts that went on in that forest. But unlike the townsfolk, she did not cower from its branches. Intelligence and wariness of the craft preformed there was enough to protect her from the idiots that the town called witches.

She paused at the top of the valley that the house rested in. The atypical smoke that rose from the chimney indicated that a potion was being brewed. Or it had just been brewed that morning. She ran down the hill toward the house. When she reached the door she did not bother with stealth and almost crashed into the Sanderson's front door. With fury she swung it open, allowing the wood to slam against the side of the house. The noise startled the three sisters who were surrounding a black cat. Tania barely suppressed a cry of despair at the body of Emily Binx slumped in a chair. She ran to the girl, trying with all her power to heal the child but in her heart of hearts she knew it to be too late.

"Your healing touch matters not, little white witch." A voice like nails on slate laughed from behind her. "The child is gone, a very tasty child at that." She said, laughing with her sisters but Tania did not look up. She would not spare even the smallest of glowers at the three vessels of hell. They were hardly worth it.

"What have you done with Thackery?" She finally asked, her eyes never leaving the empty face of Emily Binx, who would laugh no more.

"Can't say I know of a Thackery, do you sisters?"

"No, Winnie."

"Can't say I do, Winnie."

Her sisters responded in a sick giggling monotone.

Tania's blood boiled as she released Emily's cold dead hand to face the witches. "Don't mess with me, bitch." She growled in a voice that would have made even the bravest of mortals quake. However, the three sisters did not understand the insult, as it was ahead of their time. "Where is he?" She barked.

"Now, Now, we can't have this. Book darling, come to mummy. Let us see what punishment to bestow upon the white one." However, the book never made it to its mistress's hands, as it was pierced with a solid ice spear that came from Tania's outstretched hand.

"Where is he? Or consider your precious spell book Swiss cheese." She threatened.

"Very well, very well. I shall tell thee what we did with the boy." Tania dropped her arm, and her guard, and the ice spear melted back to water, the spell book falling to the floor. Though, perhaps, if she was not desperate, or perhaps if it had not been over ten years since she heard it, she might have remembered her aunt's warning.

_Never trust a servant of Lucifer._

Pain shot through her very soul and core of her flesh as Winifred used her power to electrocute the poor girl. She collapsed onto the floor, hearing the banging of the villagers outside the house. _Took them long enough._ Shouts and curses at the three sisters shook the floor underneath a barely conscious Tania. The front door shook as Winifred called to her sisters, "Hide the children." A blanket was thrown over her body poorly by Sarah Sanderson, if the footsteps were to be believed. Another, Tania assumed, had been thrown over Emily's body.

"Witches? There be no witches here sir!" One of them insisted. Mary, by the sound of the voice.

_Yeah right, _Tania couldn't help but think, _there are four of them. _

The sisters moved toward the door as Winifred insisted, "We are just three kindly old spinsters ladies."

"Spending a quiet evening at home." _It's morning dumbbell. _

"Sucking the lives out of little children!" Sarah, of course, and through Winifred's cry of rage Tania would have rolled her eyes if she had the energy to even move, _the idiot_. She felt to door burst open and the cries of the sisters as she was lifted to her feet. Gasping in pain she clung to the one who had helped her up.

"Emily," She croaked tears finally falling.

"Tania is still alive, sir." She recognized the voice of Elijah.

"Please, Emily and Thackery."

"They're gone, Tania. Emily has moved on and Thackery is missing." Elijah said as he helped her outside into the waiting arms of Mrs. Binx. Tania wanted desperately to shout, but she couldn't. She came here to run away from the pain of loss, not embrace it once more. The two women clung to each other, weeping silently in the morning air.

A gallow was quickly constructed for the hanging of the three sisters, the interrogation having gone nowhere. Tania floated at the side of the remaining Binxes, glaring at them with all her might and at the book held in Elijah's hands that had somehow healed itself of the hole.

"Winifred Sanderson," Mr. Binx spoke. "I will ask thee one final time."

"Yes?"

Tania fist clenched, if only she had left magic back at the house and just thrown herself at the older woman. "What hast thou done with my son, Thackery?"

Winifred put on a thoughtful face as she played with the boy's name. "Get his name off your foul tongue, demon." Tania muttered, trying to restrain herself from scratching the woman's eyes out.

"Answer me!" Mr. Binx demanded.

"Well I don't know," She finally answered laughing. "Cat's got my tongue!" The three sisters laughed as though they were sharing a private joke.

Tania gazed at them astonished, mouthing the words in horror. "No… you didn't."

"Well, well, well the little white witch has caught up with our game. A clever little witch you are. I'll never understand why you didn't join us sister."

"I am of no such relation to you, demon. I am nothing like you." Tania called out to the red-head, furiously.

"And yet notice that she does not deny such a thing." Winifred said, laughing. "Sisters sing." The song of the witches caused panic to plague the villagers as they screeched and covered their ears.

Tania only did as well when Mr. Binx shouted, "Listen to them not!" But even she did not fail to notice the book being thrown on the ground.

"No!"

A trick, and a clever one at that.

"Fools, all of you!" Winifred shouted ecstatically. "My ungodly book speaks to you! When 'tis all hallows eve and the moon is round, a virgin will summon us from under the ground! We will be back and all the lives of the children of Salem shall be mine!" They laughed manically before Winifred's eyes fell upon Tania. "And you, my little white witch." Tania felt herself rise from the ground at her feet and be pulled to the eldest Sanderson, as though being held by the scruff of her shirt and neck at the same time. She choked trying to keep air in her lungs. Winifred used this time to her advantage and whispered to her and only her. "And should my first spell fail another shall take its place. When two time crossed lovers separated for centuries or more are reunited we shall be called back again this time more lingering than a single black flame candle. Beware All Hollow's Eves." She finished and Tania shot back at her before losing consciousness due to lack of oxygen.

"What is it with you freaks and Halloween?"

Her body connected with the solid ground as the ropes fell, strangling the sisters. Everyone returned to the village, Elijah guiding Mrs. Binx up the path through the wood while Mr. Binx picked up the unconscious Tania. A black cat scampered among his legs trying in vain to get the stubborn man's attention. "Away foul beast, away."

"This is the final act for that girl Binx." One of the town's leaders said to Mr. Binx from behind. "Bring her to city hall. She faces trial when she awakens."

Mr. Binx looked at him startled. "Please, Tania is like a daughter to us. Must we lose all of our children in a single night?"

"I am deeply sorry for the loss of your kin, but that daughter of darkness is no blood of yours. Explain to your wife and bring the girl to town hall."

Mr. Binx nodded gravely, looking at the girl in his arms. "What are we to do when all hope is lost?"

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_-DD  
September 24, 2009_

_(c) Disney 1993_

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	3. Prologue Part III

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Prologue Part III

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When Tania awoke, it was well into the evening, on all Hallows' Eve. She opened her eyes to the small wooden space where she lay on the dirt. It did not take the girl long to figure out where she was and what had happened to her. "Damn, this is not good." She rubbed her hand over her face to get her eyes to adjust to the evening light. A knock rang on the wood of the room, or closet seeing its size. There was a click and the door opened.

"Good thou hast awoken." Mrs. Binx stood in the doorway holding out a lit lantern into the shed. The sun was fading quickly into the horizon and the hills beyond. Where ever she was, she reasoned as she looked out the small area, it over looked the river.

"What's happened, Ma'am?" Mrs. Binx did not meet the girl's eyes as she placed food in her lap. "Ma'am?"

"Thou awaits trial of council." Mrs. Binx all but whispered. "Even good Elijah is against thee. He says thee told Thackery and Emily what thou ist last eve." Tania sighed and banged her head backwards against the wood she was leaning on. "It is false, Tania?"

She did not answer, but stared unseeingly at the sky. Her mind was off in another world, another time, wondering where in her calculations she went wrong. "Tania." And then she realized it, everything went wrong when she acted like a coward. She ran away from the pain and sorrow and everything else that went wrong in that world. She left her only family alone, just as she was alone in this medieval look-alike town.

"Tania."

"Ma'am, no matter what happens, no matter what I do or say, know that I will always be grateful for your kindness. You helped me when I was lost, and I thank you for it, but I think it's time for the lost to return home."

Before Mrs. Binx could ask what the girl meant someone called out. "Time's up Ma'am. Leave the witch and go home." Mrs. Binx cast one last look upon the girl that she always considered a second daughter before leaving, locking the door behind her. This, though she didn't know it, would be the last time she saw Tania Miles. For after this, the girl called Tania Miles would be lost to Salem, Massachusetts for over 300 years.

The door closed and Tania went to work, and after pulling a small knife out of what seemed to be mid-air she cut away the rope that bound her feet, only giving a second's thought on why they bothered with only her feet. "Alright, no daylight savings time and the sun just went down. So that makes it roughly seven-eightish. Enough time left I suppose." She closed her eyes leaning against the wall. "This is probably the Manor house, highest point in town and practically farthest from the woods not counting the dock homes." She sighed, remembering the smell of fresh smoke in the air. "They've cremated the bodies, probably buried Emily." Her eyes stung at the thought of the girl she couldn't save, her soul trapped as long as the witches' first curse held. But if the Sanderson's bodies were burned, then the house would be left until winter to ward off any angry spirits. It was an interesting technique, but all together foolish and useless. The last she could remember, neither Thackery, nor his body, had yet to be found.

"'Cat's got my tongue.'" Human transformation if anything, and that dream she had, a 'more lingering' punishment.

She'd look for Thackery before leaving, though she doubted she would be able to find him. After an hour of scratching the wall with her pocket knife, she rose to her feet, unlocking the padlock with her magic and simply picking the door lock. A man sat upon a chair in front of the shack.

"Hello, daughter of darkness." The voice was familiar to her, for she heard it every day.

"Elijah." She said in an even tone.

"I knew the shack wouldn't hold a witch."

"Then why bother with one to begin with?" she slammed the door behind her, locking the locks with a wave of her hand. He stood, with the gun in hand and shaking noticeably. "Elijah, put the gun down."

"I'll shoot Tania. Don't think I will not."

She shook her head in an exasperated manner. "I know you would, but what would you do it you miss or I dodge? There can't be more than one, maybe two shots in that gun without reloading. These seventeenth century guns, heck nineteenth century guns, are pathetic." She shrugged and moved toward him, causing the boy to jump. "Put it down Elijah. I don't want to hurt you."

"One gun might not be enough against thee, witch, but what about ten?" She cocked her head confused as he drew breath. "THE WITCH HAS ESCAPED!" He shouted to the heavens taking his eyes off her for a second.

Every fire within a mile was lit, looking like the blood of a thousand innocents of the witch trials against the night's veil.

"Shit! Elijah!" She moved quickly, bringing her hand down on the side of his neck, but not before he pulled the trigger.

She screamed as Elijah dropped to the ground. Warm blood seeped down her arm, dampening the fabric of her dress sleeve. She gripped her upper arm and ran for it. Running around the backs of the village houses while avoiding the citizens of the town, who wouldn't hesitate to see her die, was not easy. She tripped over upturned roots that had grown their way into the path, had a few close calls with the men running down the streets using their torches as guides, and lost blood all the while. By the time she reached the edge of the wood, her face was pale and her breath was labored. Then a voice called out her name.

She turned to see Mr. Binx facing her, the flames held above him giving light to the darkness. "Why –?" She shook her head and turned, but then paused and said. "The answer you seek is on the wall of my prison."

Then she ran into the wood, disappearing like a sprite. But a half-hour later she was still groping in the dark, gripping her arm against the pain, and trying to stop the blood flow should she bleed to death. She thanked God that the bullet had torn straight through the flesh without hitting the bone. There had been no time during her walk that she would be able to stop and treat her wound. Even sparing a minute could summon the hoard of villagers upon her.

A misstep and she was sprawled in the dirt. Groaning, she picked herself up using only her good arm. In the distance, she could hear the angry shouts of the villagers.

"Shit." She rose from the leaves and saw the Sanderson house right in front of her. That vile book was still inside. She could feel it. She ran into the cabin, searching for the flint she kept in her skirt pocket for occasions when fire was necessary, after all she could not use her power to summon fire just yet. With one strike, she lit the flames that had been under the cauldron. She glared at the large iron pot, the one that brewed death. She searched the entire house, looking quickly from top to bottom before finding it within the fire place.

It lay covered in soot, yet unharmed otherwise. She sighed, picking up the large tome. The aged human flesh felt like leather in her hands as she ran a shaking palm across its volume. She dared not open it. The book was too engrossed in evil, and for the wrong purpose could corrupt even the purest of witches, which even she was not. The only thing she could do with it, since it could not be destroyed by her, was to hide it. It would only delay the witches, but it would be precious time that was wasted. Kicking up a loose floorboard near the fireplace, she saw the ladder that lead downward beneath it. Without bothering to even think about what lay down in the dark well, she threw the book down with all of her remaining strength. The candle that sat upon a throne in the middle of the room soon followed. Even as she closed the boards, the thuds of the book's bindings could still be heard against the rock wall.

She ran out of that dreadful house, leaving the door swinging open in the autumn wind, the coming of winter's breath. The flickering lights of the torches weren't far off now.

"There! Perhaps the witch took refuge in her fellow's house!" A voice called out in the distance.

With that, she turned to the opposite direction of the sound, yet every step she took seemed to be useless, as the mob grew ever closer. Finally, her legs gave out as she tripped again, this time on a root, and she didn't bother getting up. She moved her body to lean against a thick oak tree. Her body was weak from exhaustion and blood loss, but she would not die here, not if she could help it. For awhile the only sound was her breathing and the night winds, howling above the trees. Leaves crunched softly, too softly to be a human.

"Mrow." Tania opened her eyes and ended up staring into strange luminescent green eyes. "Mrow." The black cat pounced softly on her chest, staring straight into her eyes. "Mrow."

"What?" she asked, feeling utterly idiotic talking to a cat, a black cat as well - how fitting. The cat swiped at her and meowed again. "Look you have my attention, what do you want?" The green eyes looked annoyed as it patted her right arm with a paw. When she winced at the pain that shot from her wound, it looked confused, staring at the arm and sniffing the air.

"Mrow?"

"Alright, that does it!" The cat immediately jumped away from her and hissed. "I'm not going to hurt you, stupid cat." It visibly relaxed, but still it paced meowing and jerking its head. "Speak, Speak or forever hold thy peace!"

"TANIA!" Not expecting a response (well, a response, yes, but not a human voice, and certainly not one she knew so well), she jumped and clutched her arm as the pain returned. "Tania, what happened to thee?"

"Never mind that. Thackery, Thackery," she cooed as he climbed back to his previous spot. She petted his head, scratching with her first two fingers behind his ears. "Dear Thackery, what have they done to thee? You're a cat!"

"At least I am whole, Tania. What is wrong with thy arm?"

"It's nothing," she insisted, but he pressed his paw into it again. Wincing she scolded. "Okay, it's worse than it looks, but don't do that!"

"I can smell your blood, and it's mixed with gun powder. Thou wert shot – why, and who?"

She sighed, closing her eyes again, scratching Thackery's small furry head. "I faced trial in the morning."

If a cat could look surprised, Thackery achieved it. "I never told anyone."

"I never said you did, Thackery. Winifred Sanderson told practically the entire town before she was hanged. And Elijah confirmed it."

"How?"

"Must have overheard us talking yesterday. He was the one that shot me, by the way. He was the unfortunate soul that guarded me tonight."

"What didst thou do, Tania?" Thackery asked cautiously, wondering what punishment she had bestowed upon his friend.

Tania laughed at his uneasiness. "Don't worry, I only knocked him out by hitting a pressure point on the neck." She explained, pointing at her own. "He'll be fine, if a little sore come morning. And I only hit him after he shouted out to the rest of the town."

He rubbed against her hand, purring. "Thou hadst best keep moving then. I can hear the townsfolk approaching."

She groaned and looked behind her. "Are you sure you aren't a dog, by any chance?" She asked laughing, once she turned back to face him, as only a dying person could. "I'm done, Thackery. It's no use."

He pawed the flesh over her shoulder blades. "Tis not over yet!"

"I can't move, Thackery, my body is worn out. I've lost far too much blood." She could see the flames out of the corner of her eye now. "I'll be going home soon." She admitted in a far-off voice that didn't sound anywhere near Salem.

"What do you mean?"

She smiled mischievously at him, looking thoroughly happy for the first time that Thackery had seen. "You are about to find out my biggest and most guarded secret. By every technicality I am negative 299 years, six months, and three days old."

"What?"

She laughed a pretty sound that only helped alert the coming mob of their presence. "You heard me. I ran away from home after my parents died, and, wanting to get as far away from home as possible, I accidentally transported myself here. I don't recall the memories of how it happened." She said, waving a hand in the air vaguely, as if trying to grab those memories from the air, "And the next thing I remember, I was in my nine year old body - a seven year difference – and I didn't remember anything then. All I could remember at the time was my name, date of birth, and a story to tell. I went around believing all that myself until –"

"We were twelve." He put in from his spot, curled up on her lap.

"Yes, then my locket did something funny, relaying a message I put in there before, though I don't recall doing so. Everything except the actual travel came back to me. Including my parents' death, the reason I ran to begin with. Oh you can't even imagine the sorrow I felt at losing them not once, not twice, but three times in my memory." The two lay in silence for awhile, listening to the night and the ever nearing villagers.

It was when they could hear the distinct voice of each villager that tracked her that Tania rose from the ground and back to her feet. She leaned against the hard oak for support as she looked down at her friend. "Come with me, Thackery. I can't do anything about your curse alone but with my aunt's help we probably could."

"Nay, I shall remain here and guard the Sanderson house."

"Thackery, you can't honestly expect me to just leave you here. Who knows how many Hallow's nights you'll have to guard. I can't just leave you here alone. I know how that feels, Thackery, don't do it to yourself. Please."

"I must. I have failed to protect Emily, but I won't fail again. When – if – the witches return, I'll be waiting for them."

"Thackery," she rubbed his head gently over and over again. "You stupid noble fool, now know this: Winifred's spell book and the black flame candle. I threw them down a well hidden underneath the floorboards of the house by the fire place. It is that candle that a virgin must light to bring the sisters to life once more and that is what you must guard."

"There, there the witch up ahead!"

Tania stared at the voices and the shapes they became. "Time runs short. Thackery are you sure about your decision?"

"Aye."

"Then good luck to you, my friend. I'll try to return to Salem when I return to my own time." His cat form quickly jumped at her, and she held the poor boy tight in her arms. "Stay safe, Thackery Binx, please stay safe."

"I am an immortal cat, what is the worst that could happen?" He laughed.

She smiled, petting him one last time. "I don't want to know. Now go." And he did. Landing on his paws, he ran into the darkness with a cat's agility, but she knew that he would keep a close watch until she was gone. She looked up into the night sky to see the moon nearly, but not quite overhead. "It's almost time."

"Tania Miles!" She turned at her name, using the trunk of the tree to support herself. She waited patiently for the man to continue, boldly facing him and the rest without fear. "Thou hast forfeited thy right to a trial. Thou art a witch, do ye deny it?"

She shook her head. "But I'd like to say something anyway. To you, Council of Salem…what are these trials of yours? Do you call that crap justice? Well I call it corrupt politics. Anyone can accuse someone they don't like by acting funny, just so they could get rid of them. You can it witchcraft – I call it stupidity. I've searched this town, and I'll tell you this – the only witches here were the sisters and I. Good and Evil in a little town, huh. Another thing what was one of the most famous tests of the witches…umm…oh yeah! Let's see it they sink or swim. If they swim they're a witch; if they drown they're a dead human. And reading the bible in a language they can't understand… oh yes that's real justice, that is. NOT! Use common sense, people! Or did that not get created until the Revolution?"

They used their crosses and holy water to barricade themselves from her, but she just laughed softly. "Do you really think those things will work against me? I'm just as religious as the next man."

"Thou art a witch!"

"A pure one yes, unlike those empty shells of Sandersons."

"There you see, she does not deny it, Binx! Thou hast housed a witch all these years."

Tania looked up to see the man she had earlier said a sad goodbye to. He stared at her with anger, with hate, with disappointment, and with sadness. "All of these years we've sheltered thee, and to repay us, you sell your soul and harm my children."

Her hand immediately went to the locket around her neck, pulling at the extending chain. She was hurt by his words and insisted quietly, "I would never do a thing to harm either Emily or Thackery."

"Get their good names off your foul tongue!" She would have smiled at the irony of the repeated words she'd said to Winifred this morning were the situation not so dire. "You cursed them the moment you told them what thou wert. Look now; they're gone in less than one day's passing!" _Perhaps I did, humans aren't supposed to know about magic. _

"Hang the girl!"

"Send her to hell for her crimes!"

_What have I ever done to you,_ she thought, caressing the locket in her palm. Glancing up she saw the moon almost directly overhead. It was time.

"I'd love to stay for the party and all – well not really but you get the picture – but my time in this century has run out." She took the locket in both hands and flipped open the clasp. A bright light, stronger than any of the surrounding flames was emitted from its depths. "Chronos, Guardian of Time, I beseech thee. Return this runaway from whence she came. Return me to the place I ran from. Return me to my blood. So speak my name Tania Milesius!"

The bright light enveloped the girl's small body, deteriorating the clothes of a long forgotten past, returning the garments she wore when she left. Though none of the townsfolk were able to tell, her body decreased in age by one year to the age she was when she left. None of the townsfolk had ever seen such magic and as the glow brightened ten-fold, they had to shield their eye or be blinded. When the light was gone, the girl had gone with it.

* * *

_-DD  
September 30, 2009_

_(c) Disney 1993_

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	4. I

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Chapter I

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"And so the Sanderson sisters were hanged by the Salem townsfolk, and young Tania Miles along with them had the girl not escaped. There lies no record of the girl ever turning up again in history. Some say she was never accused, others that she never existed, yet many of the townsfolk that chased her into the wood claim she disappeared in a flash off light. Either way the girl, like her friend Thackery Binx, was never heard from again. However, one thing may prove the girl's existence. For on her prison's wall was carved an answer to a question most beings will pose to themselves at least once in their time here in the land of the living. 'What does one do when all hope is lost?' Do any of you know?" Mrs. Olin asked her class, yet, like all classes, most weren't paying attention and the few that were didn't offer anything. Mrs. Olin sighed as she looked at her class in disappointment. Gone were the days that her class would hang onto every word of her stories. "Oh where is your Halloween spirit? Go home and play your X-box or whatever you kids spend your time doing these days – Sit down Mr. Binx!"

For a kid had risen from his seat to do just as she had asked of them. This boy was a trouble maker, anyone could second that. Even he would say that he's always been and always will be no matter who would try to influence him. Holding up his hands to pacify his teacher he made an attempt to explain himself.

"Just thought I'd listen to the teacher."

Mrs. Olin was not amused.

"Well don't. Why break the habit of a lifetime?" The boy shrugged and returned to his seat, a smirk prominent on his face. "For those of you who bothered to pay attention: these words were carved on the side of the wooden shed that was Tania Miles prison." She turned to the board and wrote out with chalk the answer. "What does one do when all hope is lost? _Wait until dawn to hope again._ It's a pleasant way to start off the Halloween month." She was about to continue on with the lesson plan when the phone on her desk started to ring. "Alright do what you want, except leave Mr. Binx, while I take this call." She moved slowly to her desk to answer the phone while the class broke out into hushed voices.

The boy, who was called Binx, leaned back in his chair smirking. "Teacher takes the fun out of everything."

"Got that right." His neighbor and friend commented. "Her and her Halloween gibberish. Everyone knows magic don't exist. What 'bout you Zack? Do you believe in witches, and ghouls, and ghosts? All the scary superstitions that crawl around this town?" He mocked in an eerie voice causing those around him to laugh.

"I don't know, it probably exists somewhere, or once upon a time like all the teacher's stories begin." His friend didn't even have time to reply as Mrs. Olin hung up the phone. "Alright class we have a new student joining us. His name is Tannic Milesius now everyone please welcome him to James Bailey and be courteous. This means you, Mr. Binx." A knock rapped on the door as Zack started to protest. Mrs. Olin eyed him with warning as she opened the door muttering; "Now we can only pray it isn't another tie-dyed Californian."

"Sorry, but I'm not from California." A soft voice said that made Zack sit up straight, serious, and alert for the first time in his entire school career.

"Come in, come in." Mrs. Olin gestured. "So you're Tannic Miles-"

"What's with the boy's name?" Someone called out laughing but stopped abruptly when she glared at them. For standing at the front of the room was indeed a teenage girl giving the one who called out a more icy look than was thought possible. But it wasn't the cold and unfeeling look that made Zack Binx freeze in his seat; oh no, but the familiar air of the girl. It wasn't just her voice that brought back long forced forgotten memories, but her face as well. The last time he looked into those eyes had been a different life, centuries ago.

"It's pronounced Tana-quill, and yes." She confirmed with the tone of explaining a quite simple problem to a naïve child. "It is a girl's name."

"I've never heard of such a name. What is its origin?" The girl called Tanaquil looked up from the boy towards the teacher. Her icy glare turning into a look that was as alluring as it was curious.

"Latin."

"So you're from out of the country?" To the girl it seemed like a stupid question as she answered in a slow voice, "No, just Pennsylvania."

"Oh, so it's a dutch girl." Zack's friend called. Her gaze shifted quickly to him and like the offender before he fell silent.

"Enough now. Miss Milesius, why don't you take a seat next to Mr. Zachary Binx. Mr. Binx, raise your hand." But it was unnecessary. From the moment that she heard his name, Tanaquil had been gazing directly at him. Yet unlike its previous encounters it was not to punish or demean. They were soft, sad, and something else, and he returned it with curiosity and question as he raised his hand vaguely. She took a seat, taking her eyes off of him for the time.

"Now on with the lesson, wouldn't you say?" Mrs. Olin began, grabbing the attention of her class back from her new student. "Take out your texts from inside the desks and turn to page 384. We'll be learning about the literature of late fifteenth century during the age of the old Puritans and the Salem Witch Trials." She didn't seem to catch the slight flinch her newest student gave in her seat at these words; however, it did not go unnoticed by a certain boy. "During this unit, we will have a partner project, in which I will assign partners." She said causing a damper on most of the class. "Now, now I want you to read a passage from…"

The class dragged on slower than the others, as is the normal rate for the last class of the day. When the bell finally rang the students bolted, all except for Tanaquil, who spoke with Mrs. Olin on the parts of class she needed to catch up on. It was late when she finally left the school. Textbooks from all of her classes were stuffed into her school bag, and as she swung the bag over her shoulder she looked to the west toward the dying sun.

"It really is late." She said to herself, brushing her hair back from her face as it blew freely in the wind. "Nearly twilight." Kicking off the pavement, she pedaled into the street. Salem, she noted, hadn't changed much. A quiet town, that already had all of its cars in their places, a suburbia, was what the town of Salem had become. And yet the old manor atop the hill still remained, probably harboring a rich family that knows not what to do with its many rooms. She shook the thought from her head as she turned down a wooded street almost deserted by the lined houses. She tried not to think about how the last time she had taken this route no pavement existed and it had been entirely overgrown. The strong breeze, as strong as it had been that All Hallows Eve, blew back her hair from her face as she quickly stopped at the large iron gate.

It had a haunting look about it. A demolished sign lay just beyond the gate as though no one bothered to fix it following its destruction. The watermill no longer operated in the drought tortured creek and the house was overgrown with ivy, yet still it was the same house. The Sanderson house, she'd recognize it against all others.

"Well, only one way to find out the truth." She whispered as she picked the lock with a small pick she had taken from the stash in the side pocket of her backpack. The gate, rusted with wear, had to be kicked open, and even then it resisted her force. She only needed to slip onto the ground, so a small slit in between the metal was sufficient. The door swung open and closed freely in the wind, and the entire plot of land gave off an abysmal eerie aura. She could feel the presence of the sisters' evil on her very skin, it was enough to make her want to run from this place and never return. Yet she could not, for the only way to find out what had happened was all in that house.

So she climbed the steps of the house and slipped into the place unnoticed. A light switch was by the door, but a few clicks proved that the electricity had worn out long ago. Tanaquil lit a few lamps with her magic, showing the deserted house in a new light. By the looks of things it had once been a museum, but hadn't been used for a long time. The postcards on a rack by what appeared to be the register were yellow with age and a case was on display; however, the object had been smashed over five years ago by the amount of dust and webs within it. She glanced at the cases card and her eyes widened in fear.

"The book. It was found. And by the looks of things, stolen." For the spell book wasn't to be found anywhere within the house and when she lifted the old floorboards she found the old well sealed off. "If they found the book, they probably found the candle. So it should be here, unless someone stole it as well." She reasoned trying not to panic. What is the book wasn't stolen, but taken by its rightful owner. "Then they'd be here right now, and there wouldn't be any children left alive." Yet if it happened years ago… "Stop it Tania." She scolded herself scanning the cards until she found what she was looking for.

"The black flame candle." She whispered in awe, though it was no more. All that remained of the fabled object was a pile of wax. "So they have returned, and taken the book with them as well." She glanced at the broken case with unease and wariness. "So where is Thackery?" Even as the words left her lips, the image of the kid from her English class floated into her mind. His awareness of her presence: as though he recognized her from another life. "Zack Binx…ridiculous." She dismissed the thought and left the house, shutting the door behind her knowing that it was pointless for the wind would soon loosen its boards to dance with it again. She left through the iron gate, pulling it shut and locking it up again.

"The Sandersons were summoned, but by who and when?" She thought, pedaling back into town. But when she pasted the gates of Salem's graveyard she hesitated, pressing her fingers to the wrought iron metal. The answers may be within these stone walls, yet would the answers be worth the pain of seeing the many people she had seen alive and well marked with marble and decaying into dust below her feet? And dear sweet Emily.

Before she could make her decision, however, the loud sound of teenagers reached her atone ears and she moved away from the gate just as a group of boys came into view beyond the gate. Their jeering and laughter annoyed her. They were disturbing the site - that much was obvious. Only one of the boys looked uncomfortable at their place. To her utmost distaste it was that Zack from class. Just as they left the cemetery one of the boys spotted her, slamming the gate shut behind him he jeered, "Well, well, well if it isn't Tana Miles. What's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this, late at night? You should stick with us along these streets we can protect you from the weirdoes."

She eyed him contemplating, almost amused. "But sadly, how would you protect me from yourself?"

The boy looked at her, confused, while Zack smirked, being the only one who wasn't puzzled. It took the boy over a minute to realize the insult; once he did he scowled at the girl, which she returned ten-fold.

"What were you doing in there anyway?" Tania asked, glancing toward the cemetery gates.

"Oh, nothing you need to know." Said one of the others, tossing a spray can up into the air a few times and catching it.

She glared at them all, though only Zack seemed to be affected by it, as he refused to meet her gaze.

"Who?"

"Tch, no one important - just some Marx person from, like, 300 years ago."

"Elijah." She whispered, horrified, looking toward the graveyard.

"Yeah him, 'sides that ain't have as bad as what happened…oh 20 years ago or so."

"Yeah, my cousin said one of the graves was opened the entire coffin and body not a foot deep."

"We can show you, if you want." One other said, Dan Something from her Calculus class. Two of them moved to either side of her bike, grabbing a hold of the handles. "Ever been in a graveyard at night?" Dan whispered, his face not too far from her own. She could practically smell the smoke on his breath.

"Alright guys, that's enough, let the poor girl go."

"_Poor Girl_? Excuse me?" She was annoyed, very annoyed. Tanaquil nor Tania Miles was by no definition a weak little girl or a damsel in distress. "I can take care of myself. Thank you very much, Binx! And you ought to be ashamed. Defacing the dead, I hope they haunt you for the rest of your miserable lives! How could you, attacking people that can't even fight back. Things like you make me sick."

"Aw, come on Miles. It's just a little artwork. 'Sides the guy's been dead hundreds of years, probably nothing more than dust now." Anyone who looked at her closely would have noticed Tanaquil close her eyes in pain or regret, but this situation seemed to apply to both. "Artwork ain't half as bad as what happened to Billy Butcherson." This caught her attention, for her eyes flew open and came to rest on the boy that spoke.

"Billy Butcherson?"

"Yeah, the one whose grave was opened."

She looked at Zack now, and he nodded ever so discreetly. "So they did return," she muttered, thinking quickly. The boys looked confused as she pushed her bike forward, ignoring them.

"Hey! Where you going?"

She looked back, but instead of answering the question she asked another. "Where is the book, Binx?"

Everyone of the guys turned to Zack, looking to him for the answers to their unasked questions. "What book?"

"Yeah really, Zack read a book, that's a good one." His best friend said, laughing which started the rest of them off.

Tanaquil just shook her head in disappointment, giving up. She turned back to the road and pedaled on when a voice rang out loud and clear. "They moved it to a museum near town hall!" Her head whipped around so fast you'd think it would have hurt, but she just looked visibly joyous, releasing a sigh of relief as though she had been holding it ever since she went to the house.

"Thank god." She whispered and then she shouted back to Zack. "Thanks!" In a laughing tone that only a little kid could have managed. Her shoulders seemed to have an entire world lifted off of them, maybe what she once said was true that new hope _did_ come with every dawn. And for that short period of time when she pedaled home and went to bed, she forgot all about the second curse. Until the morning, when realization came crashing down all around the poor girl. Sadly, the war with the witches was not over; though the first two battles had been fought, the last and largest was still to come.

* * *

_-DD  
October 8, 2009_

_(c) Disney 1993_

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	5. II

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Chapter II

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She was quiet. That was the first thing Zachary Binx noticed when he went into school the next morning. Last night the girl had been a small joyful kid, happy to hear that the book was not in the hands of the witches.

_She still has no idea that the witches came back to life._ He thought. Unless, of course, she had gone to the house herself. It would explain how she knew that the book was missing in the first place.

Zachary had hoped that she would never show her face in the town of Salem again; for though, she promised to come back as soon as she returned to her own time she never did. Yet here she was, and going by a different name as well. It made him wonder whether she had kept her promise after all, just coming far too late.

Yet, shouldn't she be happy that the witches were gone for good? Here she was as silent as a tomb not even sparing a glare at the guys who were poking fun at her. Calling her babe and chick, things that he was sure she'd never allow anyone to call her and live to tell the tale.

"So Tana sweetheart, don't cha wanna catch a movie this Saturday?"

Zachary only shook his head at his best friend's foolishness. If the kid had any memories of his own past life, he would know not to poke at the tigress. Sure enough, faster than he could blink, Tanaquill had smacked the boy straight in the face with the book she'd been reading. She hadn't even moved except to flick her arm backwards at her target. The book then returned to its previous position, open to the exact page.

"What the hell?" The boy asked rubbing his sore nose.

Zack clasped the boy's shoulder as she ignored the both of them. "Looks like Ms. Tana likes her books better then you." He said as his best friend sulked from his sore nose and ego. It was after he said her name that she made an exasperated noise.

"For the love of –, my name is Tanaquill or Tania no more of this Tana crap, alright?" She said with an almost pleading look to Zack.

"Sure, sure whatever you say Milesius." Zack replied in a surrendering state, with his arms up in halt. She rolled her eyes at him and returned her gaze to the printed page. "You'll get ink on your nose if you keep it in a book all the time." She ignored him again, but he kept at it. "So you go see that spell book yet? Why'd you want to know anyway? Gonna try some of that dark spooky magic?" he said in a pitiful ghostly sound, waving his arms playfully in front of her face.

She smacked them away and looked up. "I'll ignore that last comment. And no I haven't seen it yet."

"Really? Well I'd be happy to take you there after school."

"No thanks." She went back to her book, or would have if it wasn't gone. "What?"

"Looking for something?" She looked up again and saw Zack waving the book above her head.

She sighed and sat back in her chair, gazing at him with contemplating eyes that revealed nothing. "You going to give that back willingly?" She asked trying not to smile as he sat on his own desk flipping through the pages. He chose not to answer her and continued to flip through the pages. His friend, having stopped flirting with the other girls in the class, read over his shoulder.

"Never would have pinned you to read such gruesome stuff, Milesuis. Know he dies at the ends?" Zack said, flipping to the end of the book in an attempt to spoil the story for her, but she nodded her head.

"I've already read it."

The two boys stared at her with gaping mouths. "Why are you reading it again, then?" they couldn't imagine reading a book once, let alone more times. She rolled her eyes and didn't answer, but looked at them expectantly. When they didn't do anything she growled, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Forget it." She reached back into her school bag and pulled out a different book, opening it.

"How many of those does she have?" His friend asked Zack, who only shrugged about to respond when Ms. Olin came into the classroom. He quickly took a seat, throwing the book into the desk. For the kids it was an extremely long period that separated them from the weekend outside James Bailey. When the bell was mere seconds away from ringing, Ms. Olin called out to the chattering classroom.

"Your project partners will be posted on Monday before class and we will also be choosing topics –" She was cut off as the bell rang and everyone bolted, yet surprisingly Tania, whom everyone by then had dubbed a bookworm after voluntarily staying after school, went as well. When she reached the bike rack her eyes scanned the crowd searching for the boy who had her book.

"Where is that idiot?" She asked to herself as the combo clicked in unlocking the chain.

"Miss me already, Milesuis?" Her head jerked up as she saw him in the tree loosely holding a branch in one hand and her book in the other.

"I'm going to laugh when you fall." She said tucking the bike chain into her bag.

"Violent wishes don't you think?" He asked, dropping down.

She looked him up and down for a minute before replying honestly, "For the likes of you…I think not." He just smirked and handed her the book. "Just like that?" She asked, taking it back and flipping through the pages in search of any damage.

"Just like that." He replied in a lay back tone, watching as she stuffed it into her already overstuffed bag. "Interesting read by the way. Never thought you'd be interested in blood and gore type of things."

"Never thought you'd be into reading."

"Oh I am." She stared at him in shock. "What?"

"Nothing, just give me a moment to digest that before shouting this news to the world as an accomplished miracle…Zack –"

He quickly cut her off by putting a hand over her mouth. He let go almost immediately, embarrassed. "No one really needs to know."

She looked at him curiously. "Then why tell me? The freaky new girl." He shrugged unsure. "Whatever, you want to keep it?"

"No thanks, already read it. Didn't recognize the title, but once I flipped through I did." He looked at her ever slightly and curiously, unnoticed by her as she kept her face staring straight ahead as they walked. "Are you planning to see the spell book anytime soon?"

She shook her head. "My aunt's expecting me home and we'll be away all weekend, so I probably won't have time to go look until next week."

They turned the corner nearing the elementary school. "Well the book ain't going anywhere. This is my stop."

She looked up at the building. "The elementary school?"

"I've got an appointment with my younger sister. See you Monday, Milesuis." He said, waving one hand in departure.

She watched him for a moment, contemplating his actions and manner. There were times when she thought he was truly aware of the witches and the centuries before, and there were other times when she just wanted to hit him over the head for acting so idiotic, like any other teenage boy. In a way, she supposed, she was jealous that he could live his life away from the past and just act like any other kid. She had lost the ability to do that, and maybe over time she would regain it, but by then there wouldn't be any childhood left for her.

So she watched Zack strut down the walkway without a care in the world as though she was watching a play from the sidelines. "Hey Binx?"

He turned to her, starting to walk backwards, asking "What?" or he tried to except he ended up sprawled atop some poor kid's bike.

"Oh never mind." She laughed as he got back to his feet grumbling.

"Bet you did that on purpose." She laughed again and this time he listened. It wasn't the same defeated laugh that he had last heard come from her mouth all those centuries ago.

"Didn't do that on purpose." She retorted stubbornly, but a cracked smile gave her amusement away. "It was perfect timing though." She smirked at him, her dark hair falling in her face.

"Why you –"

"See you Monday, Binx." she called in the same tone of voice he had used earlier, taking off on her bike.

Zack shook his head in surrender and continued to the school's entrance, muttering under his breath about crazy witches.

* * *

"You've been very quiet lately, sweetheart." Fay Milesuis glanced over at her niece. The girl had been staring out the window absentmindedly the entire ride. "Tania."

She looked up at her aunt, question in her eyes. "What?"

"Is something wrong? You haven't been yourself lately. "

"I'm fine. I've just been thinking."

"About the new school?" Tania nodded, fingering the edges of the bolt of cloth in her lap. Fay worked as a designer and this weekend she and her niece had been at one of the many shows where her dresses were displayed. Most of the trips, Tania would remain at home, but one of Fay's workers had to call out, so Tania took their place. The girl knew the ups and downs of fashion shows - as much as she didn't want to. On many occasions, her aunt wanted to use her niece as a model, or a _doll_ as Tania was fond of calling it. She would hear nothing of it and go against her aunt's protests, just wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Yet despite Fay's many faults, Tania was exceptionally glad that she had returned home to her.

"I know it was a hard move, but we aren't that far away from Reading. It's not like we moved to the other side of the country." Fay commented as they pulled into Salem, the short half-hour car ride from Boston was trying for the girl, who Fay knew would be rather restless if it was any longer. Tania was strange in that way. "When we first came to Salem, you were ecstatic, so what happened?" She asked, parking outside the three-story Victorian home.

Tania quickly stepped out of the car and gathered the cloth bolts in her arms. "I met an old friend." She whispered, sighing. "And remembered a curse."

Fay laid her arms on the hood of the car, looking over at the seventeen year old. "Does this have to do with your six month disappearance?"

When the girl nodded, Fay continued, having finally found an entrance to the secrets Tania had withheld for a year since her finding. Pale and bleeding, the girl had been found in the Poconos woods one Halloween by a few seasonal hunters. After she was rushed to a nearby hospital, it was discovered that the wound just below her shoulder was new, infected, and caused by a bullet. While the hunters who found her swore that no one shot in her direction, the girl refused to disclose who had shot her.

Tania had been hospitalized for about a week before anyone found out who she was. By that time the girl had been begging for her aunt, a woman who had for six months been frantically searching for the runaway. Officials had Tania's confirmation that she had, in fact, run away, and had finally decided to return home. When both the hospital and the police had released her, she had asked to stay with Fay, her father's sister, as opposed to being sent to a foster home. Over the next few months, the two had grown close, living in a suburb of Reading, Pennsylvania, yet Fay had been unable to discover much of what had happened to her niece. She even had a daily reminder of her lack of knowledge, for the bullet wound had become a scar that was clearly visible on Tania's right shoulder.

"Well, I guess this means you were probably in Salem, then?" Tania looked at her aunt closely before slamming the car door shut and heading inside.

Exasperated Fay followed her movements, clicking the car locked with her keys. As she reached the front door, Tania had already tossed the bolts haphazardly into Fay's sewing room, and was pounding up the stairs to her third floor bedroom. Glancing upstairs and gripping the railing, Fay called up to her. "Running away from them won't solve your problems, Tania!"

"But it sure helps!" She called back in a sarcastic tone she hardly ever used anymore.

Fay bit back a tongue lashing, and simply settled for, "I thought you were done running away."

There was a pause in the pounding of the wooden staircase. The silence was thick with anticipation and fear. No one within the house spoke, activity of the outside town stopped at the whitewashed walls of the house: its two occupants engaged in a battle of wills, each refusing to break the silence. After a few moments of the intense atmosphere, Fay could hear the girl chanting, almost in fear of what spoken words would bring. Listening intently Fay could make out the words spoken in a hallowed voice. "–two time-crossed lovers separated for centuries or more are reunited they shall be called back again this time more lingering than a single black flame candle…" Her voice cracked and died, barely covering a dry sob.

Fay quietly walked up the stairs, and what she found tore her heart out. She gently slipped onto the step and put her arms around Tania in a sideways hug, cradling the girl.

"I'm tired of being strong," she whispered in a pained voice. Fay could count the times on one hand that Tania had been this vulnerable, and yet the always courteous but assertive girl had been reduced to a small child, crying and whimpering, like a child sniveled for her mother. Yet her mother was gone, and it was Fay's turn to play the guide. "I'm tired of hiding everything. I want everything to be over. No more secrets, and no more guilt. I can't take hiding behind a mask anymore."

"Then don't," Fay crooned, stroking the girl's dark hair which cascaded over her shivering shoulders in gentle waves. "Be a normal girl, don't let whatever ails you take your life over. You don't _have_ to be strong."

"You don't understand. I have to." Tania countered, wiping her eyes and tucking her hair behind her ears. There would be a time when the witches would return, but as long as that boy remained in the shadows of the earth and her memory, their return could be delayed.

* * *

_-DD  
October 14, 2009_

_(c) Disney 1993_

* * *


	6. III

* * *

_Chapter III

* * *

_

"Mondays suck no matter where you are," Tania concluded, locking up her bike on the rack and trying hard to stay awake. She had spent last night researching everything and anything about the Sanderson Sisters, trying to figure out when exactly they had returned. Their presence was always around her and she was constantly looking over her shoulder. Nightmares plagued her sleep with doubt and guilt. At this rate there was no doubt she was loosing her mind.

A hand fell onto her shoulder, causing her to jump frightened and ready to attack. "Hey, Milesuis. Chill." She shrugged the boy off of her and moved toward the doors, trying to calm her rapid heartbeat. The negative feelings and the forsaken aura always grew stronger when that boy was around. Zack followed her, watching the brunette carefully. "Is something wrong?" She ignored him. "Milesuis?"

"What?" She asked sharply.

"Geez - a guy shows a little concern and you snap his head off."

"Shut up," she hissed, trying to get the stupid Binx to leave her be.

"Hey, wait up!"

"JUST GO AWAY!" She shouted at him and ran into the classroom, leaving Zack in the hallway gaping after her. Tanaquil's shouts had caught the attention of most students in the hallways; they proceeded to stare at him until he stormed into class himself.

Later, walking into English, Zack saw Tanaquil at her desk, her head buried in her arms. He shot the girl a glare before collapsing into his seat. He briefly noted the crowd gathering at Olin's bulletin board and remembered that project partners had been chosen over the weekend. He didn't bother getting up to check, because at that moment he really didn't care about a stupid English project. Tanaquil's attitude had pissed him off, but it also worried him. The girl's controlled breathing pattern was enough to see that she wasn't asleep, but rather contemplating something. The girl had a nasty habit of keeping her feelings locked up and proceeding to place the whole world on her shoulders. Despite his new life the old Thackery still worried about her.

Not for the first time did Zack curse the memories he retained of his past life. Instead of being a normal carefree teenager he was forced to remember those long guilt-wearing three centuries of imprisonment, even after the witches were gone and dead. He glanced back at Tanaquil. Something he always wondered was why he retained his old memories, why didn't he forget like any other person in the world? Why was he still remembering things about the Sandersons, as though it was important for him to remember how to fight them? Tanaquil, no, Tania, knew something. It couldn't be a coincidence that, all of a sudden, she finally returns to Salem, after all this time. He once believed in superstitions, and though he decided now that they were nothing but jokes, it was still strange.

"Mr. Binx!" Mrs. Olin snapped in front of him, stirring the teen out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" To his surprise the entire class was staring at him, save Tanaquil who remained facing the front of the room, continuing to ignore his existence. Once again he saw red. The girl was getting on his last nerves.

"Mr. Binx, do you even have a clue as to who your partner is?"

He shrugged leaning back in his chair cockily. "Come on Ms. O, do you really expect me to?"

She sighed. "Someday, Mr. Binx, you are going to wake up and realize that you're wasting away the best years of your life.

He snorted; I've already spent three lives working. I deserve to have a little fun.

Mrs. Olin obviously seeing she wasn't getting through to him went back to the front of the class saying, "Mr. Binx, your partner is Ms. Milesuis –"

Two protesting voices suddenly shouted, "What!"

Mrs. Olin looked toward both of her students surprised at the outrage they both had. "Yes you two are partners and no…" She stated at the girl's open mouth. "I will not reconsider. Ms. Milesuis, I am surprised that you didn't look at the board. It's not like you, are you not feeling well?"

"I'm fine!" She stated loudly, taking her seat again not meeting Zack's doubtful glance.

"Very well, now I would like you to conjoin with your partners and decide on a topic. When you've chosen a topic, tell me." There was an expectant pause. "Well, get going."

Beside him Zack could clearly hear Tanaquil mutter, "Fate hates me."

"Oh come one Milesuis, Zack ain't that bad." Zack's friend protested, coming up in the middle of their desks. "Now play nicely, you two." Zack glared at him while Tanaquil emitted a growl that clearly said he should get going. Laughing, the boy continued toward his own partner.

"I hate him." Tanaquil stated glaring at the boy's back.

"I'm beginning to get the same feeling."

"Shut up," she ordered, not even glancing at Zack.

Zack looked at the disturbed girl before finally hissing, "What the hell is up with you?"

The girl sneered, not at him, but at the irony of it all. "More like who in hell."

"They're gone you know." Surprised Tanaquil looked at him. He held her gaze evenly, trying to tell her exactly what he meant.f

"How…" She asked. "How could you possibly know?"

"I was there. As a 300 year old cat."

She gasped, staring at him relentlessly. It was impossible…well maybe not, but probable? NO, he couldn't be, there was absolutely no way. "You are lying."

Zack was startled, not expecting it. "How else can I know that unless I was?"

"I don't know, but I know your lying." She insisted.

"Tania." She flinched at the name, coming from his mouth it sounded so much like Thackery. "It really is me."

She stood up and said, "I don't believe you. Pick whatever topic you want. I don't particularly care." She walked up to Mrs. Olin, said something, and then, with her teachers affirmation, left the room without a second glance, with Zack staring after her the entire time.

"Damn her. Why doesn't she believe me?"

"Probably because it's you isn't it?" His friend clamped his hand on Zack's shoulders. "Don't worry about that girl. She's not worth it."

"You have no idea how wrong you are." Zack muttered, running a hand through his brown mop of hair. His friend looked at him surprised, before grinning evilly and leaning down.

"So is Zack Binx crushing on the new girl?"

Zack didn't answer, he didn't even protest. Seeing this, his friend whistled. "Man, you have it bad."

"Huh?" His friend didn't even bother to reply, but walked away shaking his head, disappointed.

"Mr. Binx?" Zack looked away from the door at his name. Mrs. Olin was beckoning him to her desk. He sighed and reluctantly got out of his own desk, making his way to the front of the room.

"Yes, Mrs. Olin?"

The teacher observed her student surprised by his lack of sarcasm. "Tanaquil has left the topic decision up to you. What ever you choose she'll go along with it. So do you have any ideas?" He thought for a minute and a wicked idea ran through his mind. Tania won't be happy about this.

"Would it be alright if we did the witch trials?"

* * *

"BINX!"

Zack turned innocently to the fuming time travelling witch. "Yes Milesuis?" He asked as she stormed up to him, her hand twitching wanting to get around his skinny little neck.

"You little asshole." She fumed finally right in front of him, though Zack wasn't sure that was a good thing. "You did this on purpose."

"Why, whatever do you mean?"

"Our topic, you chose that on purpose."

"Maybe." Zack walked around school that entire day with a red handprint smoking on his right cheek.

Tania ignored him for the rest of the week, grudgingly working on their project separately, and wincing every time she read about another of the accused's fates. When Friday finally came once again, Tania was out of the door before anyone took second notice of her. Zack, however, was cornered by Mrs. Olin before he could escape.

"Mr. Binx, for your and Ms. Milesuis' project, I suggest you also add the Sanderson sisters. It would give the project a much more familiar tone."

Zack frowned slightly; if the witch alone trials caused Tania grief, then the sisters would hurt her even more severely. Agreeing to such a thing without Tania's consent would be downright cruel. "I'll try Mrs. Olin. Do you have Milesuis' address? I'd like to contact her."

The old teacher looked at him oddly. "Haven't you two been doing work outside of class?"

"No Mrs. Olin." Zack replied a with slightly guilty expression.

"Alright then." She looked the information up quickly on the school's computer system and gave Zack a slip with the information he needed. "I do hope you're getting your work done."

"We're trying, Mrs. Olin," Zack confessed, walking out the door. "We're trying."

* * *

A few hours later, fate had Zack Binx knocking on the door of Tania Miles.

"I'll get it!" Tania called out to the house, reaching for the handle of the door, but once the door was open, she shut it again.

"Who was it, Tania?" Fay asked, coming out of the kitchen and wiping her soaking hands on a towel.

Tania put on a fake smile. "A false alarm, just a few kids playing pranks."It was now that Zack chose to knock again, this time harder with more annoyance. The two Milesuises could hear his muffled voice.

"Come on Milesuis, we have a project to do."

Fay raised an annoyed eyebrow at her niece, who was banging her head against the wall by the door. "Why does fate hate me?" Fay sighed and opened the door to reveal a very agitated young man. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it when he saw that the woman in the doorway wasn't Tania.

"Uh…sorry, but is Tanaquil here?"

Fay gave a shocked look, and out of the corner of her eye she saw her niece flinch. If there was one thing that Fay was undoubtedly sure about her niece was that Tania hated her full name. She never allowed anyone, even Fay, to call her that. Fay turned to her niece, drumming her fingers on her arm waiting. Tania gave her aunt a pleading look clearly saying she'd explain later. However Fay wasn't going to be so lenient.

"Tani, explain."

She sighed, and then shot a glare at Zack, who was mouthing the nickname to her teasingly. "It's nothing Aunt Fay, just an administration mistake."

"Tani don't lie to me." Fay scolded, causing Tania to look down at her feet. "I made sure that they had you registered as Tania, and the only way they could possibly have known your full name would be if you told them."

Tania was stuck between her aunt and the very kid she was trying to avoid.

"Um…as much fun as it is to see you trapped, Milesuis, we still have a project to do."

Tania sighed and finally turned to him, waiting to see the cocky smile that he was constantly wearing. However, he looked horrified when he got a good look at her. Tania gazed curiously at him before remembering the scars on her right shoulder, bare due to the tank she wore. Her hand flew to her shoulder, glaring at him demanding him silent.

"That was from –"

"Shut up!"

Fay was being ignored for the most part as Tania marched up to her room.

"Hey!"

"Don't worry; she's just grabbing a jacket. Who are you, by the way?"

"Sorry, I'm Zack Binx."

Tania decided now would be a good time to cut in and walked down the stairs gently pulling her hair out of the jackets folds. "Let's go," she muttered, pulling Zack away from her house.

Fay watched the two leave, thinking that the boy was possibly the only link toward Tania's disappearance.

* * *

_-DD  
October 21, 2009_

_(c) Disney 1993_

* * *


	7. IV

_

* * *

_

_Chapter IV  
__  


* * *

_

"What did you tell her?" Tania asked as they walked down the street.

Zack eyed her with something akin to pity. "I only told her my name, Milesuis, so don't worry your pretty little head off about it." He could hear Tania sigh in relief and asked her, "Why didn't you tell her about it? Don't you trust her?"

Tania gazed at the pavement in front of them before answering. "I don't want to worry her, I've done that enough already."

"But she's worried about you anyway."

Tania looked at him before returning her gaze to the ground. "I know. What do we have left in our project anyway?" Zack froze at the sudden change in topic and mumbled something. "Sorry?"

"You're not going to like it."

"Try me."

"Mrs. Olin wants us to do a small portion on the sisters." He didn't need to elaborate any farther.

This time Tania froze, staring at him fearfully. "Oh no, oh no, no, no, no. No way in heaven or hell will I have anything to do with those – those demons. Absolutely not."

"Look, all we have to do is tell Mrs. Olin that we can't fit it into the project. I don't like the idea any better than you. It's no big deal."

"It's a very big deal." Tania rebutted darkly.

Zack sighed. "So, do you want to put it in the project or not?" She shook her head slightly and Zack took that as a no. "Okay, then." Zack grabbed her hand and pulled the surprised girl down the street toward the center of town. "Come on, I want to show you something."

"Wait a minute…" Tania mumbled, as the two approached the museum. She stopped her heels uncounciously digging into the pavement.

"I'd rather not." Zack said softly into her ear as he gripped her elbows gently. Tania jerked her head toward him, his face only a few inches from her own. He smiled coyly and dragged her into the building.

Tania stared, wild-eyed at all of the artifacts displayed until her eye caught the one thing she hated most in the world. "After all of this time, this thing is still in perfect condition."

"Yeah, I tried telling my parents that they should burn the stupid thing, but they tongue lashed me about the importance of old artifacts instead. They don't have a clue."

"It wouldn't have worked anyway…wait, your parents?" Tania asked him, tearing her eyes away from the filthy book.

"My parents are historians. They're the ones that created this museum in the first place."

"Well, isn't that ironic." Tania muttered, returning her gaze at the spell book.

"How so?" She didn't answer, but stopped glaring at the book. Instead, she chose to look around at the other pieces in the room, moving to look at the bedside bibles from long times past.

Zack watched the girl, knowing he wasn't going to get an answer out of her. He was about to go to her when someone clasped his shoulder in a light touch. He turned around to see his mother's gentle smile. "Hey mom."

"We don't see you around here very often, Zachary. What brought on this change of heart?"

"A school project."

Mrs. Binx sighed, looking slightly disappointed, but that was her son. The boy had shown no interest in history since he was able to identify it. The boy was determined to look toward the future, instead of exploring the mysteries of the past. "Well, I guess it's enough that you're working on school work. Are you alone?"

"Nope, Milesuis!" Tania looked up from her memories and turned her gaze to the woman she remembered vividly. Her eyes turned fearful and ashamed, though despite her unease she came over when Zack beckoned her. Zack watched emotions play across Tania's face and gave her a worried look that didn't go unnoticed by his mother. She shrugged off his concern, and turned to smile at Mrs. Binx. "This charming young lady is Tania Milesuis."

Tania glared fiercely at the boy, promising pain later whether it was from the comment or the name Zack wasn't sure. "It's nice to meet you." Tania said with her hand out.

Mrs. Binx took it and replied, "A pleasure, so you're in Zackary's class?"

"That's right, but just English. And we have a project due soon; however, I do have to get home now. It was nice meeting you." She said to Mrs. Binx, then turned to Zack. "I'll see you on Monday." She turned to leave but Zack called out to her as she was at the door.

"If we want to get this finished before the deadline, we need to meet outside of school. Sunday, Library, sound good?"

"Fine." Tania huffed.

"Want me to walk you home?" She glared. "I'll take that as a no then."

Tania walked out into the open fall evening. Zack watched after her, unaware that his mother was observing him. "She seems troubled."

Zack snorted lightly. "If she wasn't troubled by something, she wouldn't be happy. One of her favorite hobbies is locking all of her problems away so no one can ever help her." Mrs. Binx raised a brow at the weight of that statement.

"How long have you known her?"

"She moved here about two weeks ago."

"And in that short a time you've learned enough about her to make that statement?"

Zack shrugged and allowed his mother to assume what she wanted.

* * *

Tania shut the door behind her quietly, hoping to sneak upstairs before her aunt realized she was home. Creeping up the steps of the Victorian home, she paused, looking out the bay window at the almost full moon forming in the night sky. Halloween was only a few days away, and she was growing closer to Zack, no matter how hard she tried to stay away. Sighing, she leaned against the wall her eyes closed.

_"We will take you, little white witch."_

Her eyes shot open, searching for the source of the voice.

_"It's only a matter of time."_

"Aunt Fay, if this is some kind of joke it isn't funny. Auntie?" Tania edged her way over to the woman's bedroom her eyes wide and fearful. Her aunt wasn't there, in fact the room wasn't there. "I'm going crazy." She whispered to herself as she slammed the door shut and ran to her own room.

Her aunt's room had beheld to her the bodies of the three hags still hanging as they did three hundred years ago. Their flesh decaying off their bones, but they smiled at her as she had stared at them through her aunt's door. The body of Winifred had raised a hand to her, pointing one solitary finger towards her. It took all of Tania's will not to scream, but her breathing became erratic and she clawed at the pain that was rising in her chest. Her fingers gripped the skin over her breast that hid her heart. The blood that its beating circulated rang in her ears.

All logic was abandoning her for panic, as she tried to divide fact from the pure terror of her imagination. The Sanderson Sisters never had the opportunity to decay; their bodies had long since been cremated. And any lasting impression of their temporary bodily forms from seventeen years ago should have all but vanished: dissipated into dust. Tania knew this was no memory of hers, but the warning that it possessed lingered in her mind bringing her no peace. That this vision wasn't memory brought no comfort, but the knowledge that the curse knew what she was thinking. It was egging her, taunting her. The more that she connected with the reincarnation of Thackery Binx the closer the curse came to being completed.

She looked over to her bedroom door, her features blank covering all emotions. As if possessed she walked slowly toward it. Her bedroom was illuminated by the moonlight beginning to seep through the wooden blinds of the window, and by that light alone she opened one of the top drawers of her desk.

She dug through the piles, searching for the small notebook she had buried under the mess. Tania's room was covered in lilac splattered paint, her own doing, and quilted with many different drawings mostly of dark creatures, the lunar star, and (most noticeably) a black cat. However, it wasn't the pictures Tania focused on, but the glowing notebook shivering in the bottom of the drawer. For a good moment, Tania only stared, until its shaking became unbearable. She reached a hand toward it, burning at her touch. She opened the book to the cursed page staring animatedly at it.

_"Dost thou remember, child? The curse that is placed upon thee? Or hast thou forgot?"_

The white hot words flew off the page surrounding her, trying to suffocate the girl.

_"Despite thine futile efforts to keep us from returning, we will be back. Mark our words: _

_Should our first spell fail another shall take its place.  
When two time-crossed lovers separated for centuries or more are reunited  
we shall be called back again, this time more lingering than a single black flame candle._

_We shall be back once again, and don't thou forget it."_

Tania dropped to her knees with her hands over her ears, shouting, "AUNT FAY!"

As the wind died down and the temperature returned to normal, Tania could swear she heard the same stupid line. "Beware All Hallows Eve." The book dropped to the floor, falling open to the page that contained the enchantment. Her bedroom door slammed open and the traumatized girl was quickly gathered into her caring aunt's arms.

"Tania, Tania, what is happening?"

"They won't leave me alone."

"Who?" but Tania would not answer; she sat there in her aunt's hold, not speaking a word. When the girl was asleep, Fay noticed the notebook and the words within it. Her eyes grew wide at the evil it held. She gazed at her sleeping niece and decided at once to talk with her in the morning. As an extra precaution, however, she took the notebook with her. Tania would have to relearn that that type of magic would not be tolerated, not by Fay and not by her dead parents. That night, Fay was haunted by a dream that seemed too fantastical to be real, but too real to be fantasy.

"Emily, wouldst thou please take one?" A young woman knelt in front of a stream, handing a filled pail up to the little girl that stood behind her. The woman's gown held no color, and her dark hair was twisted into a braid and hidden by the white bonnet that covered her head.

"Aye, Tania." The girl took the pail, using most of her strength to keep it above the ground. The young woman turned from the water and smiled. With shock, Fay realized that the young woman looked identical to her niece. The likeness went right down to the secrets that their smiles hid.

The two girls walked in silence, pacing their steps while they carried the heavy buckets. Out of the blue Emily grew the nerve to ask, "Tania, thou likest my brother."

"Yes of course, Emily."

"Dost thou like him enough to wed him?"

Tania dropped the water, stunned by the little girl's questioning. Emily giggled and ran ahead toward the wooden house. Tania scowled playfully at the little girl's back and picked up the now empty pail with an agitated sigh. "That little brat is such a nuisance." Tania muttered, walking back to the stream. Though her voice was gruff, Fay, who knew Tania since birth, could tell she loved the little girl to pieces. By using her magic slightly, Tania beckoned clean water into the pail by the stream, but dropped the thing again when someone from behind called her name. She placed a hand over her heart, feeling its rapid beat beneath her fingers. She turned to the silently laughing boy behind her, obviously agitated.

"Thackery Binx! Dost thou wish to frighten me?"

He calmly shook his head, and as he did so, Fay recognized the boy as Zack Binx from their rushed meeting.

"Between thee and thy sister it is a wonder I still have my senses about me." Tania scolded playfully, smiling slightly at the boy. Thackery, as this one was called, only smiled, fetching the pail that had traveled a short length down the stream.

The scene ended and what came back up was another memory, presumably from Tania's past.

"Thackery..."

"I do not understand what is so wrong, Tania." Thackery's hand reached up to cup her face, as she lowered her head down to the side. He brought her gaze to meet his, a glassy film veiling her eyes. "Tania, I do care for thee."

She shook her head, pushing his hand away from her with the back of her wrist in a quick movement as she ducked under his arm. Thackery sighed, and turned around to watch her as she gathered the herbs.

"Dost thou believe I a liar?"

She shook her head again, before giving up and letting herself drop to the ground; her legs folded underneath of her and her hands laced in her lap. She sat in silence for a moment, and Thackery waited. He could not help but wonder what thoughts traveled through that quick mind of hers. She was intelligent, to be sure. Far more than anyone could imagine a woman to be, especially one with her lack of a background. Her schooling had always been limited, but she could always help the Binx siblings with their work no matter what the subject. On some occasions, Thackery had even caught her smiling amused at their workbooks. But he had easily put it aside as one of the many secrets she loved to keep hidden.

"I do not doubt your heart, but, dear Lord, Thackery, it could never work. I'm a servant without any family; I can offer you and your family nothing."

He kneeled next to her, taking her hands into his own. She looked up at him again, this time her feelings covered by a wall that surrounded her.

"Dost thou think so little of us?"

"Thackery-" She began, but he cut her off.

"My family does not care for any possessions. They love you, as I do; they want you as a part of our family. All we ask for is you, not some expensive dowry that a woman of half your kindness and intelligence can bring."

He leaned down and let his lips rest on her cheek. When he felt the water that fell down her skin, he pulled away, brushing the salt trails with his thumb. Her emotions were open for the world to see, and her heart was breaking.

"I can't, Thackery. I can't. I will not allow you to love a lie."

She then picked her skirts up, and walked away from him. The shock was plain on his features as the portrait began to fade away.

* * *

In the morning, Tania made her way downstairs, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. To her surprise, her aunt sat upon the table, a cup in her hands, still smoking with the herbs resting in the liquid.

"So, Tania would you have married him?"

Tania looked at Fay, wide-eyed and horrified. "What?" She managed to choke out.

"If you had remained, would you have married the boy?" Tania sat down hard, staring without seeing at her aunt. "After all, people would have married around your age. So?"

Giving up, Tania put her head in her folded arms, and mumbled. "I don't know… probably. If I hadn't known I was to come back, and I couldn't let myself love him like he deserved if I didn't know if I was leaving or not."

"But you did."

Tania nodded, looking up with her head still in her hands. "My locket was the key, with it there was always assurance that I would return, but…"

"You never wanted to."

"Until I realized I had left you alone and how cowardly I was. Then – then she died, Emily."

"She died?" Fay asked surprised.

"Killed by those bastard hags that have been haunting me." One of her hands clenched into a fist.

"And the boy?"

Tania looked out the window at the morning sun before answering. "He was cursed. I tried to bring him back with me, but he refused. He guarded their house. I don't know what happened after…"

"He was reincarnated, wasn't he?"

"I guess so. I've tried hard to deny it, but Zack is Thackery. There is no doubt." There was a faraway look in her eyes as she said this. Fay watched over her niece, seeing what the girl could not. But, Tania was smart, if stubborn, she'd figure her feelings out eventually. Currently, there were more pressing matters at hand.

Fay brought out the notebook, almost angrily. "Do you mind explaining?"

Tania gazed at it, and then sighed. She would have to tell the entire story for the first time. "Just as Thackery, I had a curse placed upon me."

"So this evil isn't your doing."

"Never." Tania growled.

"Then I can relax." She then looked at the curse, re-reading the words. "These refer to you and Binx." Tania didn't say anything, but she didn't deny it. "Tania, you shouldn't let some age old curse keep you from doing things in life. Don't live with this haunting over your shoulders." Fay scolded, ripping the page out of the book and lighting it in the palm of her hand. Tania watched as her curse went up in smoke. "Now, it's been awhile since you've visited the library, why don't you head down there. Who knows, you might find something interesting."

Tania took this as a hint and nodded. One thing that was present in almost every witch's home was a doorway connected to the inter-dimensional library. A magical room filled with books that come and go as they please. A few books (that are rarely present) can date back to the beginning of time; however, very few people have ever seen them. Tania was one of the few witches that the books always showed themselves to, though most were hard to decipher or were in a language long dead, making them impossible for her to read. That gift of the books was how, she supposed, she was able to travel time in the first place.

Sighing, she muttered the password and walked downstairs. Before her eyes, the basement transformed into a luxurious room filled with antique desks and shelves going on for miles. So early in the morning on a Saturday, no one was here, or so she thought.

"Tani!"

Tania nearly choked as a girl threw her arms around Tania's neck. "Hello, Aryella. Long time no see."

The angel girl pouted, gripping her friends arm excitedly. "You moved three weeks ago and this is the first time I've ever seen you here since. I'd march right up to your room if I knew your new password."

"Yours is still 'angel's pride' isn't it?"

"Of course, but I don't know yours." She said, poking Tania accusingly. "Come on Faery Queen, don't you miss me?" She asked with puppy dog eyes, her dark hair falling into her face.

"Hardly."

Aryella made a protesting noise, before noticing Tania's smirk. "You are mean, Faery Queen."

"Of course I am Angel." Aryella stuck out her tongue and went back to badgering Tania about her password. "Fine, Fine. It's October 31, 1693."

Aryella sobered almost immediately and put on a serious face. "That's dangerous to say a date on a dimension rift. You might end up being sent there."

"I have no intention of ever going back." Tania retorted darkly, opening a book without really reading it.

Aryella took a look at the title and smiled wickedly. "That is so self-centered, Tani. A Mid Summers Night Dream?" Tania shut the book immediately, glaring at the title before bopping Aryella over the head with it. "Ow!" Aryella protested as Tania put the play back on the shelf. "Tani!" Aryella whined, following her friend down the shelves. "You're boring. Let's go play in Salem. I've never been there and you can show me around!" Aryella stated excitedly, pulling Tania by the arm. "Come on, Come on!" Tania sighed and followed the excited angel to the door only for her to realize that she didn't know the password. "Tani…" Aryella looked at her expectantly.

"Okay, Okay. Witches' Death." The door opened and Aryella stared at it then at Tania.

"Geez Tani, could you get any darker?"

"Well, it's true. How many of my kind died in Salem?" Tania asked rhetorically and stepped into the den.

"Still…wow, nice house," Aryella complimented, staring in awe at the room.

"Is that Angel I hear?" Fay came out of her office, smiling.

"It's been awhile, Ms. Fay."

"Yes it has, Aryella. You're welcome here as always."

"Thank you, Ms. Fay. I'll be sure to bug the sanity out of your niece." Behind her, Tania snorted; Aryella decided to grab the girl's hand and pull her outside. After going down most of the street, the angel girl stopped and looked curiously at Tania. "Where are we going?"

"You're the one who's leading, how am I supposed to know?"

"Okay, then." She concluded, pushing Tania forward. "You lead."

Tania laughed at the angel's antics. "Where to, your holiness?"

"Somewhere, anywhere, jail, I don't care."

"Jail it is."

"You must really hate your school." Aryella commented, following her friend to James Bailey High School.

On their way past town hall, Aryella stopped suddenly and shook violently.

"Something evil has settled here." She stated in a low voice.

"So you did notice." Tania halted in front of the museum.

"What is it?"

"It's a gift of Winifred Sanderson's. It was gifted to her by Satan himself."

"Lucifer." Aryella growled, anger replacing her usual happy attitude that came with being an angel. Her fist clenched as she glared at the building that harbored the prideful, fallen angel's work. Tania noticed this and put an arm around her shoulders guiding, the angel away from the book's resting place. "You know you should burn it, no one would know it was you."

"Trust me. I've already tried."

"I thought you pyro-witches could burn anything." Aryella scoffed as they sat in the grass of the school's front courtyard.

"Pyro-witches can. I, on the other hand, am a half on half. Half pyro on half hydro, which dampens the fire's heat exceptionally."

"True."

The twosome sat quietly on the school's lawn, soaking up the sun and watching the clouds go by.

"How's your mom?"

Aryella sighed. "She's on another mission. I hate it when she does that. When I grow up I won't do that to my children. I'll just tell the stupid idiots upstairs to go to hell." Aryella spat bitterly, causing Tania to smirk. The angel rarely said 'hell' unless she truly meant it.

"Yeah really, they can do us all a favor." Tania didn't have any love for her own superiors of the magical community. "Did you ever find out what happened to Kiata?"

Aryella shook her head. "I asked, but they didn't tell me anything. I guess she's still on her own mission. You have no idea how lucky you are not to be a fullblood."

"True."

The magical world was prejudiced against those who mingle with humans, so if you were half mortal you were left alone, and a quarter blood, like Tania, had no hope of ever being recognized by the hierarchy. Which was fine with Tania, she didn't care about the idiots that wouldn't put murderers out of their power. Though what they could have done, Tania wasn't sure.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Aryella asked, changing the subject away from their missing friend.

"Working on a project." Tania sighed, lying with her back against the grass and facing toward the midday sun. She wasn't looking forward to the prospect at all.

"By yourself?"

"No."

"With whom?"

"Some idiot in my English class."

"So, a real mortal?" Aryella asked amazed.

Tania sighed and rolled her eyes. "Angel, go down the street and you'll see mortals. What's the big deal?"

"I've never known one personally." She admitted, putting on her best pleading face as she looked at her friend.

Tania shut her eyes against it. "No, oh no. No way. You can't meet him."

This was only honey to a pesky bee.

"So it's a boy…"

"Angel." Tania growled in warning.

"I'm not saying anything."

"But you're insinuating it."

"Yup!" The witch then tackled her to the ground. Laughing Aryella pushed her off and stuck out her tongue teasing her best friend. "Catch me if you can, Faery Queen!" and the angel took off with Tania right behind her. Aryella was always able to bring the kid out of Tania when no one else could._

* * *

_

_-DD_

_October 28, 2009  
(c) Disney 1993_

_*slightly unedited will come back with a rebeta'd version later_

_Three nights and counting!__

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_


	8. V

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_I can't give you readers any candy, instead I give you another chapter for the holiday. Happy All Hallows' Eve! Happy Halloween!_

* * *

_Chapter V_

* * *

"Zack, please take these downstairs."

"Sure, Mom."

Picking up the boxes of this week's museum records he made his way down to the basement. The Binx's basement was crowded with numerous boxes surrounding the two desks that sat back to back right by the stairs. Zack sighed and added to the mess, dating the box in black marker: October 30, 2010. "Only a few more hours until Halloween," he muttered, standing and stretching. It was during these days out of the entire year that he was uneasy. Halloween had always been Zack's least favorite holiday; it held too many bad memories.

"Yeah, so can you take me?" He turned to look at the stairs behind him. His little sister was sitting on the steps watching him through her warm brown irises. Her chestnut hair was pulled into two identical ties over her shoulders and it fell into her eyes that stared at him intently. He smiled at her and opened his arms. She ran to him happily. Picking the girl up with ease, he held her at eye level.

"You really want this big idiot to take you around?" When she nodded her head with a jerk he smiled. "Okay."

"Yay! Thank you Zack!" She threw her arms around her older brother's neck and jumped from his arms. He found the need to stretch again, his sister wasn't getting any lighter. Soon she would be too old to carry around like that.

"Hey Em, what are you going as? A scary ghost, a blood sucking vampire, or an evil witch?" Zack smirked at what Tania would do to him if she heard him say that.

Emeline, however, stuck out her tongue and told him, "You're so old-fashioned." Zack coughed, not many people would want to be told that by their little sister. Especially if it's true. "I'm going as a faery princess. Mommy's making my dress."

"Pink?"

She scoffed as well as a little girl could. "No." She drew out her words like she was speaking to a naïve child. "It's blue, almost periwinkle." That was her favorite color - not blue not purple but periwinkle.

"Okay, okay Ms. Fairy."

"Faery…" She drawled out again. "Not fairy."

Zack rolled his eyes and she glared happily at him, definitely not anything compared to Tania's signature glare. Then she ran upstairs as he began to chase her. "Zachary and Emeline Binx! If you want to run around, do so outside." The two siblings paused and looked at each other, then shrugged. Emeline darted out of the front door and into the empty street, almost hitting someone who was walking down the opposite side walk.

"Em, watch where you're going!" Zack scolded, following her outside.

"Sorry." Emeline called back, both to her brother and to the older girl she had run into.

"It's fine." Another girl, who had come up behind the first girl, said as she focused a blank stare on Emeline's brother. Zack stopped short when he saw who it was.

"Milesius," he greeted, beckoning his sister over. "What are you doing on this side of town?"

"Walking, is that a crime?" Tania crossed her arms, leaning her head toward her friend as the other girl whispered something into her ear in a different language. "Yeah, I know." Tania replied to her, which caused the other girl to say something hurriedly in the same language she used before. Tania laughed in a spiteful tone. "The hierarchy can go to hell for all I care. Besides it's not my fault." The other smirked and spoke again this time her tone teasing. "Angel," The girl cocked her head in question, "Shut up."

The girl stuck out her tongue, before turning to Zack and his sister placing a hand over her throat. "Hello, my name is Aryella. I'll be staying with Tani this weekend."

Zack smirked. "Tani, huh? Your aunt calls you that too." Tania scowled. "I'm Zack Binx and this is my younger sister Emeline."

"Em for short." Emeline protested.

Aryella smiled and cheerfully reached out her hand. "Want to play a game?" Emeline glanced at her brother for permission and when he nodded she took off with the strange girl.

"Interesting girl." Zack commented, watching the two fool around.

Tania sighed exasperated, "That's angels for you. In my lifetime, I've only met two that acted serious most of the time."

"Angels? So that's not just a nickname?"

"I didn't say anything, but yes Angel is Aryella's nickname." Her eyes fell onto Emeline and they softened to a gentle caring fell as she watched the young girl. "She has grown wiser since her past life."

Zack nodded. "She is cautious now, and doesn't usually trust strangers. I'm surprised she took to Aryella so quickly."

"It's because their spirits are similar. It's in an angel's nature to retain all childish antic until a mission or battle."

"Battle, what for?"

Tania shrugged, watching her friend roll around in the grass. "There had never been a battle in my lifetime, so I don't know and Aryella won't tell me."

"How would she know?"

Tania raised an eyebrow at him. "She's over 200 years old."

"You have got to be kidding me."

"Nope, she was born into a group of angels hiding among the Lenape roughly around 1750. Though angels that are pure magic don't have immortality like those that are the human dead, they do have a very long lifespan."

"How long is very long? Are we talking centuries or J. R. R. Tolkien elves?"

Tania smiled at the analogy, but then frowned as she answered. "She is nearing the end of her last century. She told me once that she waited this long so she wouldn't outlive her husband by centuries. She wants to marry a mortal." Tania clarified at his confused look.

"Okay, is that…?"

"It's a very big deal. Witches, wizards and those magic folk that have normal life spans will usually marry a mortal occasionally. For an angel to do so…" She hesitated, rolling her eyes up to the sky in thought. "It's unheard of. Among magic users the closer you are to pure magic the more useful you are. I'm only a quarter so it's the same as if I don't exist."

"Sorry."

Tania snorted. "Like I care." But she changed the subject with her next sentence. "Tomorrow… is Halloween."

"I know."

Tania hesitated, thinking deeply before warning. "Watch her carefully."

Zack looked at his younger sister determined. "I'm not losing her in this life."

LINE

"Hello, Zack," Fay greeted when she opened the door. "I'm sorry, but Tania isn't here right now. She and Aryella decided to take a walk to the city limits. You do know Aryella, right?"

Zack nodded. "Yeah, I met her yesterday. I'll drop by later if she's not here." He turned back to leave, but Fay called him back.

"Wait, Zack," Fay's face dropped its cheerful demeanor and took on a worried frown. "You see Tania in school, don't you?"

"Only in English."

"Oh…well how much do you know of her past?"

At this, Zack looked Fay in the eye, completely serious, and said, "I know she lost her parents and then ran away from her home: an action that she has always felt extremely guilty about. I know that something has been bothering her for awhile now, and that's she's currently trying to seclude herself again."

"So you are aware of your past life."

It wasn't a question, but Zack answered anyway. "Yes."

"And you're aware of her powers."

Again, not a question. "I know that she has powers, just not the entire principle of the thing."

"Then if she trusts you, I will too. I found a curse in one of her notebooks, one that was placed on her approximately 300 years ago. This might be the reason why she'd secluding herself from you."

"But that's already taken place." Zack protested angrily. "17 years ago the witches, called the Sanderson Sisters, came back to life when the candle was lit, and they were destroyed with the rising sun." Fay looked at him curiously, before she asked what he was talking about. "The black flame candle was lit by a virgin on Halloween 1993. The Sandersons came back from the dead and they tried to suck the lives out of the children of Salem," He ranted, pacing along the porch. "And they would have succeeded, except that Max knocked over their potion. Afterwards, Winifred, being who she was, wanted revenge on Dani, Max's younger sister, because she shoved the truth into her face. With another girl's, named Allison, help the three kids were able to stall the witches, but what it came down to was Max drinking the potion to save Dani's life while the sun rose, causing the witches to become dust." He finished, but didn't stop his rant.

"Then I died and 'moved on' only to be reborn two days later. How exactly does that whole death thing work anyway?"

Fay laughed at his exasperated face. "I don't know. Aryella probably doesn't even know, but you can ask her. I doubt you'll get an answer, of course."Then she sobered in thought. "However, that doesn't sound anything like the curse I found in her room. The only similarity is that they both would bring the sisters back to life. This curse also mentioned a first curse, which would make the one I'm talking about the second one."

"A second one?" Zack asked weakly.

Fay nodded and closed her eyes to recite, "'And should the first spell fail, another take its place. When two time-crossed lovers, separated for centuries or more, are reunited, they shall be called back again. This time more lingering than a single black flame candle.'" She opened her eyes and saw Zackary Binx standing, dumbfounded. "She never told you, did she?" Fay asked, sympathetic.

He turned sharply and stormed off the property, fists clenched. "That _bitch_." Zack growled under his breath, thinking over everything he had been told. "I guarded that house for 300 years, _300_! Yet she neglects to tell me there was a _second_ way those hags could return. Even when she ran away in the woods she never told me. She knew that despite all my efforts to stop them, they would come back anyway. Damn everything, all that waiting for nothing."

LINE

"Hey Zack, what do you think?" Emeline twirled gracefully, the fabric curtaining the young girl delicately. Underneath the sparkled skirt were black pants that protected the young girl against the cold weather. Her wings matched the skirt and they folded with her as she dipped into a playful curtsy. Despite his anger, Zack couldn't help but smile.

"You look cute, Em."

Emeline didn't fail to notice her brother's mood as she sat herself down on the stairs next to him. "What's wrong?" She asked, concerned.

Zack shook his head, knowing that his knowledge and agitation was not for his younger sister. "It's nothing." He hesitated, but went on. "Look Em. I know I said I'd take you around tonight, but do you think you could go with the Gairdens? Something's come up with our project and I need to meet with Tania so we can fix it. We'll be spending the night at the library, it's hardly any fun."

Emeline pouted, but nodded in agreement. "I'll go call Carolyn."

Zack smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Em."

Emeline shrugged. "That's alright. Say 'hi' to Tania and Aryella for me alright?"

The thought of the two teenage girls brought the anger back, but he nodded anyway. When Emeline left to the kitchen, Zack sat down on the stairs with his hands folded in front of his face thinking. For as long as he'd known her, Tania had been keeping secrets from him, but this last one was pushing things way too far. If the witches were able to come back even after they wasted the black flame candle, all of the work that he'd done was for nothing.

_No, no it wasn't. If I didn't guard the house the candle could have been lit much sooner and without any knowledge of how to defeat the witches the townspeople would have died. My time wasn't worthless._ He assured himself, but it did little to soothe his anger at one witch in particular. This last secret that Tania kept actually explained her behavior in the last few weeks. She knew that the Sandersons could return and she was always cautious with what she did.

He thought over the curse in his head, trying to analyze it and find an answer to how they could return. Suddenly he froze as the answer finally hit him.

LINE

"Milesius!"

Tania turned to the angry teen, and when she saw the state that he was in, she told Aryella beside her to go home. Aryella glanced at her friend warily, but did as asked. Zack stood before her, completely ignoring Aryella as she left, eyes only for Tania. "What do you want?"

He grabbed her arm, tighter than Aryella would have and started pulling her down the street the girls had just come up. "Come on. I want to show you something, Milesius." She followed, not bothering to put up any form of resistance just yet. She was curious to see what was wrong with the boy, and what had caused the anger pulsing off of him. She didn't comment about it; after all, it wasn't like she didn't deserve whatever anger he actually had toward her. Zack Binx never really had ever gotten angry with her in either of his lives. This was a first. When they stopped short, Tania looked around to find that they were in front of the old cemetery.

"Zack," Tania stopped cautiously, despite Zack's refusal to let go of her arm. "I can't go in there." The fear of this place was clear on her face; unlike most times, she was unable to hide this panic that was creeping into her system. Beyond these gates the spirits increased and the voices of the past tore at her soul.

Zack ignored her, "For someone like you?" he smirked not at all playfully, his anger taking over. "I'll take the chance."

"Zack please." The girl was growing paler with every step into the hallowed ground. "Don't…go in…" Tania halted, completely rooted in the spot.

"Hey, what is wrong with you?" His grip slackened and she took the moment to rip away from him. "Hey!" He followed her out of the yard and almost past her leaning against the stone wall.

Tears poured down her face, her breathing was hard and labored as she sunk onto the sidewalk with her face buried into her arms. "Zack, they're in there. All three of them. I can sense them."

"Do you want to see Emily?" Tania looked up at him. He was leaning one arm against the wall staring at her, all of his anger gone. "She's in there, resting." Zack held out his hand and she took it firmly.

"I'm sorry for acting like that, Zack." She apologized, wiping the water from her face.

Zack shrugged nonchalant, as her grabbed her hand and helped her into the graveyard. Not all witches couldn't go into a cemetery. "It's no problem…wait did you just call me Zack?"

"It _is_ your name, isn't it?" She asked, her sarcasm back. "And I've been calling you by it for the past five minutes."

"Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention. My anger got the better of me."

Tania hesitated, and then asked. "Why were you angry? Not that it really matters to me, but you've never gotten angry at me before." She rambled, trying to get rid of the awkwardness she was sensing.

There was hesitation on Zack's part as they walked. "Why didn't you tell me about the second curse?"

Tania sighed. "Who told you?"

"Your aunt."

She looked out at her surroundings. "I didn't want to burden anyone, it was placed on _me_."

"So you heard it alone, that doesn't make it _your_ burden." Zack argued fiercely.

"But –"

"No, it wasn't about you alone. It was about _us_." It was out there in words, there was no denying _that_ fact now. Tania didn't say anything in response. He stopped in front of a grave and kneeled. The name upon the stone caused Tania to kneel as well. "Hello Emily, it's me again. And I brought a friend with me. You remember Tania, don't you?" Zack grabbed her frozen hand and placed it on the ground in front of the tombstone with his own on top. "Well, she finally came back, just like we thought she would. Also, I think all of your teasings might actually have been true."

He stared at Tania, waiting for her reaction. She was gaping at him slightly, no one could ever mistake the teasing that Emily constantly preformed. Frowning, she stood up and started to walk away, but he grabbed her wrist.

"Tania."

"I won't be the one to summon them."

"Tania you aren't going to let some 300 year old curse run your life, are you?"

"_You_ were willing to."

"And I was miserable for over three lifetimes until my last day. I don't want you to have to go through that too…Tania," Her head faced away from him. "Tania." He stood up, bringing the two closer together.

"What?" Her voice broke as she tried to leave.

"Tania, don't keep running away."

"Fine." She turned to him, smiling slightly. "But if they come back…"

"We'll fight them, and we'll win." He let his hand slip from her wrist to clasp her hand. Her smile widened as she shook her head at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Brave little mortals," the two froze, "are thee positive thee can beat us again?"

* * *

_Till Wednesday!  
-DD  
October 31, 2009_

_(c) Disney 1993_

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	9. VI

_

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_

Chapter VI

* * *

Fay stared at the face of the clock. The hands of time were spinning rapidly and this clock wasn't the only one. Every single timepiece in the house was going haywire, right down to the digitals on the computers. But it wasn't just her home; every clock in town was spinning.

"This can't be good."

"Fay? Something's wrong." The angel walked into the kitchen, her hands rubbing her arms to halt the chill running through her veins.

"Where's Tania?" Fay asked, noting that her niece was not with her friend.

"She went with Zack and told me to come here. He looked mad; I thought it'd be a good idea to let them talk things out."

Fay sighed and handed her a cup of herbal water. "This will block out the evil magic, it should stop your chills." Aryella took it with thanks.

"I'm sorry. If I knew that this was coming I wouldn't have left."

"No, it's best you let them work things out; which is probably why this is happening."

Aryella sighed and looked slightly annoyed. "Why am I the last one to always know things?"

"I only found out recently." Fay commented, slightly amused.

"So it's a curse or something?"

Fay nodded and pulled back the curtains to reveal the setting sun and the dark clouds hovering above the town. "At least if it rains, Tania will have the advantage."

"True." Aryella came up behind her looking slightly confused. "Fay, I know you adore the girl, but what if she doesn't make it out of this alive?"

Fay only smiled. "I think you underestimate my niece, Aryella. She won't be brought so low."

The angel scoffed and protested. "But if Tania couldn't deal with them in the past, what makes you think she'll be able to do so now?"

"You forget, Angel, how my people were persecuted all those years ago. If she had shown herself she would have died along with the Sandersons. You only know what the council has told you, and they will make Tania out to be incompetent just because she's ¾ mortal. My niece is far more powerful and wise than those pig heads will admit."

Aryella sighed, knowing her old friend was right. "But what about the boy? He knows of magic's existence and his past life. Surely the council won't let him escape?"

At this, Fay laughed. "My dear friend, if the council were to destroy every mortal that ever knew of our existence more than half the world's population would be gone. And there remains the simple fact that he has protected and helped rid this town of the sisters once; the council would have a headache from all the magical folk in this area protesting if they tried anything against him."

"But still," Aryella sighed as she gave up trying to argue. "I can't help but feel something will happen."

"Oh," Fay smirked, "something will, but the council won't do anything about it until at least a dozen innocents have been killed."

"Bastards."

"It all rests with those two teenagers. We can only help in the smallest of ways and hope for the best."

* * *

Tania leaned against the wall, breathing labored. Zack followed her down the tunnel, looking back cautiously. "They following?" She breathed, looking beyond the boy towards the exit.

He shook his head, "But we should keep going; they know about these catacombs."

She jumped from the wall. "Catacombs?" He only nodded and pushed forward through the cobwebs. "How did you know these existed?" Zack smirked, but his face was distorted into a grimace. "What?" She asked, teasing slightly.

"I hunted mice down here." She shuddered and fell silent. He looked back at her grim features. "Why so down?" He asked, giving her a curious look. She kept her head down and didn't say anything. "Tania? …Oh no, come on that wasn't your fault." She just shook her head and bit the inside of her lip. He looked at her still curious, then realized. He punched her lightly in the shoulder as she burst out laughing. "You're horrible."

"I'm sorry, it's just funny." She got out in-between laughs.

He rolled his eyes and looked around, trying to remember the way out. "I guess it's a good thing that they know Billy won't be of any help."

"I remember him." He looked at her, surprised.

"You do?"

"It honestly wasn't that long ago for me. A few years at most." She stopped suddenly at a ladder. "Here?"

"Yeah." She grabbed the rungs and climbed up, breaching the pavement in the middle of a street in town. "Careful, I can't tell you how many times I've gotten run over."

Her head snapped down to him, eyes wide. "Run over?" She asked in a slightly hysterical voice.

Zack shrugged. "Yeah, that was annoying."

"Run over by a car?"

"That's usually what the term 'run over' refers to."

"Not necessarily. It could refer to a horse, a dog, a bike…" Tania shook her head, staring at the rungs in front of her.

"Tania, I was immortal. It really didn't matter."

"I just can't get out of my head a Thackery road-kill." She shook her head again, trying to keep the hysteria out of her chuckle."I should have known the trouble you'd get into."

"I consider that an insult coming from you."

"Good, because it was."

Fighting the urge to laugh again she moved out of the way as Zack came up from the underground labyrinth. "Now what?" Tania questioned, stretching her muscles, which were tight from running through the cramped catacombs.

"Now we head to town hall. It doesn't matter if we get in trouble. We need to get that book before the Sandersons."

She shuddered, but nodded. "That's a priority, but how can we read it…" She stared off into space so dazed that Zack snapped his head to see what she was staring at, thinking that she saw the sisters. He waved his hand in front of her face.

"Tania, Earth to Tani?"

She slapped his hand away, glaring. "Don't call me that. I was thinking about where somewhere where we would be safe to read that book."

"But nothing good comes from that book," he protested.

She only shook her head and pulled him down the street. "That's where you're wrong. Most witches keep the key to their destruction within the book, which they will never let out of their sight. Hence, if we can find a place to read it without summoning the witches to their book, we're home free."

"But where?"

She smiled as they approached the town hall, skirting around the trick-or-treaters, and headed into an alley behind the museum. "The inter-dimensional library. There are so many magical auras in there that it's impossible to track just one," she explained as he took out a copy of his mother's key.

Pushing the metal into place, he turned it and the lock clicked open soundlessly. "And there we go," he said, reaching for the light switch. Tania, however, grabbed his arm and shook her head, pointing to the windows.

"Did you happen to grab a key for the case?"

He shook his head. "I never thought about it." He said, putting the key beck in his pocket.

Tania sighed. "Well, I guess it's enough that you thought of the door key."

"Yeah… hey!" She rolled her eyes at him and looked around the room.

They moved over to the case, and as Zack inspected the lock on the case, Tania looked at the book. Its single eye was closed and it made no acknowledgement that it knew its owner was back from the dead. She glared at it; this was the real source of all the trouble. If it weren't for this damned object, none of this would have ever happened. She glanced at Zack who was still fiddling with the lock. _None of it_.

"It's no use," he said, giving up, "We'll just have to break it." She knelt beside him, running her fingers over the lock. Then, after close inspection, she pulled a pick out from inside her jacket. "Where did you get that?"

She shrugged, working at the lock determinedly. "Had them for awhile, but it takes skill, patience, practice, and a hell of a lot of luck to perfect." The lock clicked open. "See? It could have been a lot worse. I don't have a pick that works on every lock." Zack stared at her in awe as she lifted the case up. There was no barrier between them and the spell book now. "What are you waiting for? This thing ain't exactly a feather, you know."

He shook himself out of his reverie and grabbed the ancient book from its current resting place. Tania then grabbed at a piece of cloth that had torn from her shirt when they escaped the sisters. She tore the fabric the remaining lengths, removing it from the rest of the cotton t-shirt. Carefully, she wiped out the sides of the case and the lock, which their fingerprints had been all over.

"In case this thing doesn't make it back here," She clarified upon seeing his questioning look and snapped the lock shut. With one last swipe of the cloth, they left the museum.

"Okay, now what?" Zack asked with impatience as they ran down the streets, careful to avoid over crowded ones which might lead to their discovery.

"Now, we find a witch's house and gain access to the IDL."

"The what?"

Tania sighed. "Inter-Dimensional Library."

"But there aren't any witch's homes except the Sanderson's. And we can't go back there."

At this, Tania gave a wicked grin that reminded Zack nothing of the Tania Miles from hundreds of years ago. "Oh, that's where you're wrong, Zack Binx." She sang in a painfully cheerful voice. She acted so different now that the curse was off her shoulders. No secrets existed between the two of them any longer. It was as though the Tania he had always known had never existed. In fact, Zack was beginning to get the feeling that this witch wasn't that much different from the three that terrorized him for many years.

He followed her, though, when she grabbed his hand and started pulling him toward her own house. He snuck a glance at her. She was happy…sort of. It was more like she was high off the adrenaline that this adventure was giving her. She really wasn't all that different.

Tania, however, caught his glance and saw the worry, the anxiety, but what made her stop dead in her tracks was the fear. The fear in his eyes…of her. "Zack?" she asked almost timidly, her smile long lost in the pain that welled up in her chest when he looked at her like that. That fear made him wince, and he wouldn't look her in the eye. "Zack, Zack please look at me." They were still holding hands, as she hadn't dropped his when she stopped; however, he did so now. He turned away from her and continued on their way. There was only one thing for them to do, and that was to stop the sisters. After that he'd never have to deal with this girl again, but somehow that thought didn't make him feel any better.

"Zack, what is going on with you?" They were all witches, and all this was for her was eliminating the competition. It wasn't as though he really knew her; or at least, that's what he thought.

"Are you normally like this?" He finally asked, turning to look at her. She was worried and scared and it killed him to see her so unsure, but he had to know.

"Like what?" She asked, relieved that he wasn't looking at her with fear anymore.

"You're…You're acting a lot like _them_." He finally admitted.

At first she looked shocked; there was no mistaking who he was talking about. Then, she looked at her hands, dirty and grimy from the sewers and the graveyard. She glanced at the book and wondered for a moment if at one point in time she wouldn't have accepted Lucifer's offer just as Winifred Sanderson had done.

"I wasn't always the quiet one you know, not the bookworm and not the one with all the secrets." She sighed, running a hand through her brown locks. "I was….a wild child, for lack of a better term. I didn't listen to anyone, messed around, acted stupid, and picked fights. I didn't really care either. I did well enough in school, I suppose, and the only ones that did know the real me were my parents. To them I was perfect and they told me so. I didn't act that way. I didn't want to be perfect. I never even occurred to me that it was just a show of affection. I despised perfection, so I was foolish. Then…it all shattered. My parents died and I grew up again in another time, creating a personality that I would have had." She looked at him.

"Is that what you were afraid of? That attitude I have?" He shrugged and she took that as a yes. He beckoned to her, smiling slightly and shaking his head at his foolishness. She fell into step beside him and they walked in a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"A wild child, huh?"

She shoved him aside, laughing. "Oh, shut up."

He smirked. "I don't know. Now that I think about it a little demon inside goody-goody Tania is somewhat attractive." She glared at him, but bit her lip to keep the smile off her face. It didn't work. "So, which one's the real Tania?"

She paused and looked him in the eyes. "I don't think you've met her yet. I think the real Tania is all three personalities blended together; the one that Thackery Binx knew, the one you've known for the past couple of months, and the one that broke all the boundaries."

"Well, I've loved all three of them at one point. Putting them all together just makes things easier."

She blushed and pulled away from him, walking the remaining distance to her house with a smile on her face, her object of affection right behind her.

* * *

"Aunt Fay?" She called into the darkened house. She flicked on a few of the switches only to find that none of them worked. She looked back at Zack, who shrugged.

"Must be a power failure."

"Aunt Fay?" She called out again, making her way to the entrance of the basement. "Wonder where she went." She thought aloud, and then she whispered the password and opened the door.

There was no one within the large room, filled with shelves upon shelves of books. "Okay this is weird." She said, coming down the steps looking around for someone, _anyone_.

Zack followed her into the library, staring through wide eyes. He had never seen this many books in his life. "Has anyone ever read all of these?"

Tania smiled and shrugged. "Dunno, I certainly haven't, can't understand half of them." She muttered, finding a clear desk within the depths of the book shelves. "Now, we get started."

"He really shouldn't be here, you know."

* * *

_Cliff Hanger, yeah I'm evil like that.  
Thanks so much for the reviews, alerts, and favorite adding. I don't need alot of reviews as long as people show in some way that they appreciate my story, and apparently a lot of you do so thanks. I said in the beginning that somewhere in the middle I'd answer any questions that I got in reviews, and the only one I've got so far is what Zack and Tania look like.  
**Zack** is pretty much what he looks like in the movie, with of course more modern clothes, normaly a dark colored t-shirt (never black since it reminded him to much of his years as a cat), and jeans. Any jacket he'd wear would be of sweatshirt material, or just a sweatshirt. His hair is much shorter than it was before, and he tends to spike it slightly with gel, but not too much.  
**Tania **has a medium shade of brown hair that can look black in the right lack of lighting. Her eyes I think I might have put as a light color, but not blue, if it says they're blue anywhere tell me so I can change it. Her clothing usually consists of a variety of tops and jeans, and usually a light jacket. She doesn't have a deep complextion, but it's not pale either. Her skin is a tad bit darker than people with a natural (and I mean natural do not talk to me about those death beds) tan.  
Hope that helps Raine.  
And though no one asked, I figure I'll just do a few more.  
**Aryella** the Angel has rather short brunette hair, her complextion is much darker than Tania's, and her eyes are a...well if you've ever seen most dog's eyes they're that kind of brown. It tends to give her an edge when she's pleading with Tania using her puppy dog eyes.  
**Fay** looks similar to her niece, but her hair is much darker, and her skin a few shades lighter, but still not entirely pale. Her eyes are a forest green, which honestly suits her since she has control over earth (though I'm not entirely sure I mentioned that yet....hmmm.)  
**Zack's friend**, if you can remember him it was so many chapters ago, is supposed to be the reincarnation of Elijah, the boy that Thackery was with in the beginning of Hocus Pocus, and the one who in this story shot Tania in the shoulder. So again, he looks like he does in the movie, except more modern clothes and shorter hair. OH OH OH Any ideas with more modern versions of Elijah's name would be sooooo freaking awsome. I would love to give this kid a name.  
__  
Feel free to ask any more questions and I'll probably answer them in a few chapters._

_-DD  
November 04, 2009_

_(c) Disney 1993_

* * *


	10. VII

Chapter VII

* * *

"He really shouldn't be here, you know."

The two teens spun around to see the speaker step out of the shadows. The figure revealed itself to be a young woman in her late teens. Her blonde hair was cropped short and a traveling cloak was still wrapped around her figure. Tania squinted at the girl as though trying to figure out a hard puzzle. Then her eyes widened and she ran up to hug the girl calling, "Kia!"

The blonde returned the hug with one of her own. "It's good to see you, Faery Queen. How you been?"

Tania shrugged. "Alright, considering the fact that three witches from hell are after my blood…well, my life force."

Kia looked at her old friend in horror. "What –?" She started to ask, but was interrupted by the brunette.

"Actually, you're just the person I need to see." Tania said, waving to the flesh bound book still in Zack's hands. "Can you still crack any witch's spell book?"

Kia looked at the book, and then grinned at the challenge. "Set her up for me, boy, and I'll see what I can do."

Zack placed the book on the table and backed up, glad for a reason to put distance between himself and the evil spell book. Kia examined the book, and then sent a look at Tania. "Where in all hells did you get this Faery Queen? This thing should be under class A supervision. It looks as though it were created by Lucifer himself."

"It was." Tania muttered darkly. "Ever hear of the Sanderson sisters?"

Kia snorted, still examining the book. "Who hasn't?" Then she caught Tania's eye. "No…" she said, almost stunned. "This is _Winifred Sanderson's_ spell book? How did you ever get your hands on it?"

"It was in my mother's museum." Zack answered, causing Kia to glace at him, and then roll her eyes in annoyance.

"Mortals. What idiots keep a spell book of this magnitude in a simple museum?"

Tania glared and spoke coldly. "You'd make a great council member, Kia."

Kia looked at her friend, confused, at first, by Tania's cold tone, but then grew wide-eyed. "I am so sorry, Tania. I didn't mean it like that. It's just… Sorry, I've spent the past few months with those prejudiced, loud mouthed fools. It rubbed off. I'm sorry."

Tania sighed, knowing her friend couldn't help what she was raised to believe. "It's fine. I thought the same thing, minus the crack about the mortals."

"Hey, most people don't believe magic exists. I've tried to get my parents to burn the blasted thing."

"Okay, now I'm curious. What's your role in this?"

Tania smiled at him fondly. "This is Zack Binx. In his past life, he guarded the Sanderson house for three hundred years to keep the Sandersons from coming back."

Kia snorted, now opening the book and making a few faces at some of the pages. "Failed at that, didn't he? Ugh, that's disgusting."

"What do you mean?" Zack asked defensively and slightly tense at the sight of the open book.

"Dude, it says freshly torn skin of an infant –"

"Not that, what about failing?"

Kia shrugged, turning the pages again. "The Sandersons came back didn't they? Almost twenty years ago."

"And _you people_ didn't lift as much as a finger, leaving three _kids_ to take care of three very powerful witches." Zack seethed.

Tania placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down and stared at her friend. "By the time the council found out, the problem was already dealt with," she reasoned logically. "Why are you acting so spiteful, Kia?"

The blonde witch rolled her eyes. "Look, Tania, I know you have affection for mortals, but those kids should have stayed out of it. It had nothing to do with them."

"Nothing to do –"

"Kiata, if those three kids hadn't stopped them, people would have lost their lives that night."

Kia stood up angrily, biting out. "And if it wasn't for those kids and that idiot mortal," She said, pointing a finger at Zack, "it never would have happened."

"It would have happened, Kiata. It _would_ have." Tania ended, and then went to pick up the book.

"What are you doing Faery Queen?" Kia asked with one hand placed securely over the spell book.

Tania stared at her friend and Kia stared right back. "The Sandersons are back. It's my fault and I will finish them for good this time."

"You aren't all-powerful." Kia whispered pleadingly with her friend.

Tania shrugged. "I have to try."

Kia held Tania's gaze, then sighed. "C'mere," she beckoned, and opened to a page very close to the end. "Noitcurtsed. Not the hardest of codes, but what can I expect from idiots. There's one key thing though, Faery Queen. It calls for 'twice pure blood.'"

"What's that mean?" Tania asked, looked at the backwards jumble on the page.

"It means you'll need the blood of a good witch, but also the blood of purity, in other words… a child. Preferably a girl."

"What does being a girl have to do with anything?" Zack asked still wary of the blonde witch.

Kia sighed. "In olden times a girl was always considered more pure than a boy. Don't ask me why."

Tania, however, was contemplating. "I can't just go up to some little girl and cut them."

Zack sighed, looking out over the distant shelves seeing another lifetime. "I know someone who would jump at the chance, if this was only 20 years ago."

The two girls didn't comment as one of them was thinking and the other was copying down the spell. Tania was struck with an idea and immediately afterwards felt sick. She sat down on a seat, pale and rubbing her eyes with her fingers.

"Tania, you alright?"

She could not meet his eyes, not after she had thought that. The witch's blood would, of course, be hers but the girl's…... She shook her head hard, trying to rid herself of the idea.

"Tania?"

"Please don't hate me." She pleaded in a small voice. "Don't hate me for thinking this."

Zack looked at her curiously as she finally met his eyes, the agony clear in her own. He waited until she finally whispered a name and shut her eyes immediately afterward. Zack only gaped at her, wondering how this could be Tania. Tania wouldn't think this, not ever. "You can't be serious." She shook her head, trying to say she wasn't but he didn't see. "Milesuis, you can't honestly suggest Em. Not my sister. Not after what she went through in her past life." He kicked a chair in anger. "Dammit Milesuis, how can you even _think_ that!"

"Stop it," Kia hissed at the boy. "Stop that, it was just a thought. You obviously don't know Tania. She had to think things out through to whatever possible outcome. I don't know who this girl is, but obviously she is important to both of you otherwise Tania wouldn't be such a wreck right now." She seethed; waving to her friend whose head was in her hands, oblivious to the conversation. Tania was only punishing herself for suggesting Emily's reincarnation.

Zack saw Tania now and his face softened as he dropped into the chair he just kicked. He could hear Tania whisper again and again. "I'm sorry, so sorry." He grabbed one of her hands, pulling it away from her face and caressing its palm softly. She looked at him in pain and he shook his head, smiling sadly telling her not to worry about it. Tania moved over the table and sat in his arms, still murmuring apologies as though she couldn't say it enough to make up for her suggestion. Zack rubbed her hair and they sat like that until they were interrupted.

"Oh, gag me." Tania glared at her friend, who gave her a Cheshire grin and finished off the last line. "That's the last of it. It's best if the book stays here so that the Sandersons can't get their hands on it."

Tania nodded, staring at the book and then at Kia. "I'm trusting _you_ with it." She emphasized her tone. It was clear to both girls that Tania did not trust any on the council with such a powerful book.

Kia smiled and hugged her friend one last time, whispering, "The council won't help you, Zack, or these people. It's all up to you two." She pulled away from the brunette, who held the ingredients to the witches' destruction to her chest. "Good luck." She looked at Zack. "To both of you."

The two waved to Kia as they left the library, making the room quiet once more.

Kia sighed, turning back to the book and running her fingers over it. "That's that. There's nothing else we can do is there?"

Both Fay Milesuis and the angel Aryella looked at the stairs. Finally Fay whispered. "I'm afraid not."

* * *

_-DD  
November 11, 2009_

_(c) Disney 1993_


	11. Interlude

_Interlude_

* * *

The two teens sat together on the sofa of the girl's living room. "What now?" The girl asked after reading the list for the seventh time.

Zack sighed, looking at the list again over her shoulder. "We can't stay here." He said finally.

She looked at him defiantly. "And why not?"

"It's the only other magical house in the area, they know you're a witch; hence, this is the first place they'd look."

Tania smirked, finding amusement in this statement. "Well, well, Zack Binx using logic…who would have guessed." Zack smiled slightly at her teasing. "Where will we go?"

Now Zack grinned happily and she looked at him strangely and confused. "Max's house."

"Who?"

"Oh, come on, you know Max."

Tania leaned back against him, eyes closed, thinking. "The one who lit the candle?" She asked finally, eyes still closed.

Zack nodded. "The same."

"Where's he live?"

"Can't miss it. It's the manor house." Tania shuddered slightly, remembering her imprisonment there, however short. Zack noticed this. "Don't worry, the shed's gone."

Tania smiled and opened her eyes to him. "Onward then?"

And Zack grinned. "Yeah, onward to the final end."

"Finally."

* * *

_-DD  
November 18, 2009_

_(c) Disney 1993_


	12. VIII

_8_

* * *

_Chapter VIII_

* * *

"I'll get it!" Max Dennison opened the door to find two exhausted teenagers. He put the candy down and ushered them inside. "Well, look who the cat dragged in, it's Zack Binx." Zack grinned then looked back at the candy.

"Expecting someone else?" He asked teasingly.

Max rolled his eyes. "Well it _is_ Halloween." Tania scoffed, muttering something about idiots and Halloween. "Don't tell me we have a non-believer here." Max joked. "Trust me I went down that path, and man was I wrong."

Tania raised her eyebrows and asked, "You from California?"

Max looked surprised but answered. "Yes, why?"

Tania then looked at Zack. "He the reason Ms. Olin was asking for there not to be another 'tie-dyed Californian' when I moved here?" Zack grinned and Max laughed.

"She still on about that?"

"'Fraid so." Zack laughed, taking a seat on one of the crème sofas circling the fireplace. Tania copied him, but while Zack's demean was relaxed and coy her posture was stiff and her eyes were unfocused. Zack noticed this and nudged her, causing her to blink and reopen her eyes to the room.

"They out there?" He muttered barely moving his lips.

"I can't sense them." She replied in the same tone.

Max came back into the room with cider, handed a cup to each of them, and took a seat across the coffee table. "Allison is upstairs, she'll be down in a bit. So what brings you here? And I don't believe we've met before." He said, looking contemplatingly at Tania.

"I'm Tania Milesuis." She clarified, but didn't get up to shake his hand instead shifting her eyes past Max to the curtained window behind him as though she expected to see the dark silhouette of a cloaked figure flying past.

Max noticed this and assumed she was watching the ever-moving grandfather clock behind him. "Sorry about that. It seems like all of the clocks in the house are going nuts." He said this in the passing but Tania's eyes widened and glanced at Zack. Zack's attention was now solely on the large oak clock tower.

"Wasn't your kitchen clock going haywire too, Tania?" Tania shrugged.

"Never noticed, we were to worried about…" She drifted off and Max gave the two a look. Zack only nodded his eyes kept glued to the clock's face.

Max was confused, to say the least, about these two teens. They came to his home far after most were already back inside counting their candy. Even through the uneasy silence the two teens didn't say anything. They were anxious, Max noticed. Tania rubbing her palms as her gaze was never removed from the windows behind him. Occasionally her fingers would wander to her jeans' pocket and Max could hear the crinkling of paper. Zack, however, didn't move except for his eyes, which followed the pattern of the clock. He hadn't missed the two's exchange and the simple emphasis that Tania put on '_them_'. It had felt like more hate than such a small girl could possess was put into that word.

"Max?"

"We're in here!" Max called to his wife in the hall. His eyes left the two and moved to the large archway entrance. Allison smiled as she saw the two teens and gave Zack a quick hug. Zack pulled his eyes away from the clock to smile at his friend. "How have you been? We haven't seen you since school started." She began, taking a seat next to her husband.

"I've been good. School has been taking a lot out of me." At this Tania snorted and Zack rolled his eyes good naturedly. Allison smiled slightly, knowing the girls probably knew more about how Zack did in school than the boy himself did.

"So what brings you here now?" She asked. This caused Tania to go back at staring out the window.

Zack glanced at her before beginning slowly. "We have a problem."

Max laughed, knowing his share of what Zack Binx's problems were having helped resolve a few. "Did you get kicked out of your house?" He asked with a laugh still on his smile.

Neither of the two teens found this funny.

Zack muttered darkly. "I wish that was the worst of our problems." He wasn't the normal joking Zack; in fact, the last time the couple had heard him talk like this was when he was a spirit still stuck as a cat.

Allison stared at the girl wondering if she had anything to do with this change. Her eyes narrowed slightly. If that were true she did not like this girl. Zack deserved to relax after having such a rough previous life. Tania seemed to notice Allison's stare and matched it, glaring slightly. When she saw the accusation, she rolled her eyes and went back to staring at the window.

Zack was trying to figure out how to begin when Tania finally spoke. "Zack, why are we here?" He looked at her slightly shocked.

"They can help us, really Tania."

"How?" She asked doubtfully. "What can mortals do?" At this all three of them raised their eyebrows; Zack looking slightly hurt, while the Dennison's looked insulted.

"Tania, didn't you practically bite your friend's head off for demeaning us?" She shrugged but slouched a bit now glancing at the ceiling.

"Sorry, but I can't sense them or my aunt. I'm nervous. And I'd rather not drag anyone else into this."

"To late we are." Tania stared at Max.

"Not yet, we can just leave right now-"

"But you won't." Allison insisted, glaring. Tania looked ready to fight when Allison turned to Zack. "Right Binx?" Zack looked horribly stuck.

"I don't quite understand…"

"Neither do we, so are you going to explain." Zack glanced from Max back to Tania. Allison was a little agitated that Zack needed permission to speak from that girl.

Tania noticed Zack's gaze and wanted it gone. "If you think this will help, after all according to you it's not just my problem anymore." Now her eyes watched the clock. "Did you notice where the clock keeps hesitating?"

Zack nodded, "Dates, Halloweens specifically. Specific Halloweens."

"What was 1993?" She asked and the two adults froze remembering that Halloween very well.

"This has to do with those witches?" Max asked, gripping the sofa arm tightly in his fist. Tania flinched slightly but nodded along with Zack. "How the witches are dead!" Tania buried her face into her hands, eyes screwing in concentration.

"If I hadn't-"

"Shut up about that Tania." Zack said, getting rather agitated with her constantly blaming herself.

She glared at him slightly. "Like you're one to talk. You had three hundred years to get over everything. All this time you thought it was over. I knew it wasn't."

Zack growled angrily. "I would have if you'd bothered to tell me!"

She stood up, rounding on him. "I'm glad I didn't. If I did you wouldn't have been able to live normally. If it were up to me you still wouldn't know." She finished bitterly and moved to leave but Zack grabbed her arm.

"Don't go out there it's not safe." She laughed slightly.

"It's not safe anywhere." But she stopped, dark hair over her eyes, then she looked up determined and turned to Zack. "Creating their destruction is not going to be easy, but it is possible."

Zack nodded and turned to his friends who by the looks on their faces were still confused. "We have a way to finish off the witches." He began to explain everything from the time 300 years ago to the new location of the book. Allison stared curiously at Tania when Zack was finished.

"So you were in the past 300 years ago."

"317 actually." She clarified. "It wasn't that long ago for me though. All those centuries ago…I was there last year. I lived there for ten 17th century years while only six months past in the present. In the end the townspeople found out the truth and tried to persecute me." She smirked wryly. "Course it didn't work. I left before they could put me through trial." Now she frowned rubbing off her shoulder slightly.

"Show them." Zack said, seeing the motion. Tania shrugged.

"It wasn't his fault." But she pulled down her jacket's sleeve to reveal the large scar just below her shoulder where the bullet tore off her skin. Zack pulled his hand into a fist, suddenly remembering the scent of her blood mixed with the gun powder from his best friend's gun.

Shivering from the cold, she slipped the jacket back on. "Mrs. Dennison, do you have cooking herbs and salt?" Allison looked at her confused but then smirked and nodded. Tania followed her into the kitchen and the two women went through the spices, putting some in one pile and others in another.

Max watched Zack as he stared after Tania, looking slightly worried but also proud. "You really like her, don't you?"

Zack shrugged. "I can't really say. Everyone seems to think so…" He drifted off when he saw Max's look. Sighing, he admitted, "I – I think so. I'm sure I do, but she's impossible in all honesty."

"They all are."

"But Allison never tried to put everything on her own shoulders." Zack protested and Max laughed.

"Then she's like you in a way."

* * *

"Salt." Allison grinned as she tossed the can to Tania. "Haven't been without one of those since '93."

"Why?" Tania asked curiously, putting the can with the ginger and the mustard seed.

"'Only a circle of salt shall protect thine victims from thy power.' That's what the book said on one of the first pages. It proved to be pretty useful actually." Tania snorted still going through the spices. "What?"

"That won't actually work on most witches, only those that sold their souls."

"Well those are the one's you'll be fighting anyway." Tania spun a small container of pumkin seeds in her hand.

"Not always." She finally said after a few moments. "In the magical history some witches have gone power hungry and salt doesn't work against them." Then she scoffed. "At least not until they finally give into Lucifer's deal."

"You know a lot."

Tania shrugged then glanced at the list on the table and said angrily. "Powdered Dragon Scales…you've got to be kidding me. There's practically none of that left in the entire world! Even during the 1600s it should have been exceptionally hard to find that stuff." Her eyes ran down the list and sighed. "Nothing else can be found in a kitchen cabnit. Angel Dust, Root of Elder Tree, Ashes of Coriander... well that I could possibly make. Got any matches?" She asked, tossing the container of Coriander to her.

"There should be some by the fire place. I'll be right back." Allison put the bottle on the counter and went back into the den. A few moments later, Zack found Tania leaning at the sink reading over the directions of destruction. He came up to her and read over her shoulder. "Is there even such a thing as a chimera?"

"Course. They _are _myths in your culture, but there is actually a nice sized herd down in the Amazon. Their fur isn't nearly as hard to come by as dragon scales." She explained still a little touchy on using extinct dragons in the destruction, such a waste. "That stuffs expensive. Aunt Fay won't be happy with me for using it."

"How are we going to get it?" She sighed and drummed her fingers against the counter. "We'll have to go back to my home. There's no other place we'll be able to find these ingredients. Though…, I honestly have no idea where we're going to find ashes of hell."

"Hard to come by?" Tania snorted.

"Try impossible, no self-respectable witch would use that stuff. I suppose it might have useful properties, I think it's purpose is to attack the soulless body, forfeiting the contract between Lucifer and the witch. Though where we would get it…….That could work – can it be added at the last minute though?"

Her eyes scanned over the page and Zack waited patiently for her to finish, knowing she would tell him soon enough. "It could work, but it'll be very tricky."

"What's up?"

"There's only one place I can think of that we'd find the ashes without traveling to the black market."

Zack groaned, a hand rubbing over his face. It wasn't hard to see where she was going with this. "You're serious? How can you even think about going there, let alone stealing from them?"

"It's the only chance we have Zack. Find me some wax paper would you?" She asked, unscrewing the lid of the Coriander as Allison came back with the matches and Max. "Thanks." She took the matches from Allison and spread out a square of wax paper that Zack have torn from the roll. With a few movements of her nimble fingers she took out a match and struck it with one hand. Taking a pinch of the Coriander she held the small flame up to her pinched fingers. The three mortals looked on all waiting for the hiss of pain; Allison even held a sliver of aloe ready. To their surprise it never came. The match burned out to its end and Tania rubbed her fingers dropping the ashes onto the wax – neither of her hands showed any sign of being burnt.

"That didn't hurt." Zack stated rather than questioned. Tania held out her hands for inspection and sure enough they weren't burnt, a bit shiny from the sweat generated from the heat, but no blisters deformed the skin.

"I'm half pyro-witch." She explained. "Fire doesn't bother me at all." She then repeated the process twelve more times before there was a significant pile of ashes.

"So if your half pyro…" She smiled, spinning her wrist moving all of the water lying in the sink above the counter and then back letting the liquid fall onto the dishes. "The other is hydro, huh. Doesn't that…?" He hesitated on how to say this.

"Clash?" She offered.

"That works."

She shrugged in response. "They neutralize each other, but that's all."

Zack smiled wryly. "Does it happen to affect your personality, by any chance?" She shoved him, grinning. Within a half an hour they finished sorting an amount of each ingredient into six small bottles.

"Here use this." Max gave the pair a medium sized brown messenger bag. "I used it during college, but now it's just taking up space. It'd be good to actually put the thing to some use." Tania placed the bottles within the bag and thanked the couple heartedly.

"Now remember if we're not back by twelve…something bad has happened." Zack joked but deep down all of them knew it couldn't be more serious. Max gripped Zack's shoulder.

"If you need to go to Dani, she'll help." Zack nodded and Allison gave him one last hug. As the two teens were waved off, the two that remained couldn't help but reminisce about the time they could fight. However, they knew that this war had to be finished by those that begun it.

* * *

_-DD  
November 26, 2009_

_(c) Disney 1993_

* * *

_8_


	13. IX

_IMPORTANT!! has **FINALLY **made a section for Hocus Pocus! WAHOO! Two weeks from tomorrow I will be moving this story into that section, I do not know what this will do to the Story Alerts, so please make note of this. If it doesn't do anything than were all good, if your alerts get deleted you now know where to find this story. Again, this story will be moving two weeks from tomorrow, Thursday, December 17th, 2009.  


* * *

  
Chapter IX

* * *

_

"Time."

Tania glanced at the wristwatch tied to her wrist then growled. "Idiot, you know none of the timepieces work."

Zack groaned, "There's got to be something to know what time it is."

"Well there –" Her eyes lit up suddenly, an idea forming in her head. "Is tonight a full moon?" Zack looked up to the sky above the town's buildings searching for the sign of the cold white celestial body that hung at night. He shook his head no. "Then it's safe." She pulled out the locket on the chain around her neck and opened it carefully. The locket was black almost invisible in the darkness that surrounded them and the small street light on the corner of the street. Reflected in the small mirror within the locket was the number 22. "It's roughly ten." She translated, tucking it back under her shirt.

"That's –"

"My time-travel piece. Time spells don't affect other time spells." And she left it at that.

When they rounded the next turn the two nearly ran over a group of kids. "Sorry," they muttered, not thinking twice.

"ZACHERY BINX!" Zack froze then turned to face his younger sister. The young girl dressed as a mythical faery stood behind them, glaring heatedly at her older brother. Zack shuddered slightly, not failing to see the obvious resemblance between the little girl and his full grown angry mother.

"Hey Em." He greeted sheepishly.

Emeline Binx huffed, "You were supposed to take me out tonight, but then you tell me you can't. Now your trick or treating without me?" At this she went into a pout, which caused her older brother to groan and turn away, muttering about the curses that little sisters put on their older siblings.

Tania smirked at her companion, who was being floored by his younger sister. She smiled at Emeline. "Sorry, I am afraid it's my fault; but, trust me your brother ain't getting any candy out of this deal."

Emeline observed her trying to remember where she saw the older girl from. A flash of recognition flashed across her face. "I remember you. I met you a few days ago." She looked around. "Where's your friend?" She asked.

Tania's smile fell slightly. "I don't…she went home actually. A few hours ago, sorry you missed her."

Emeline nodded but pouted slightly and went back to her friends. The two teens meant to leave when Emeline came back.

"Em, what's up?"

"We were going home, but now you're here." Zack looked at his younger sister troubled. "Em…"

Tania bit her lip a worried look crossed her face. This didn't go unnoticed by Emeline who looked from Zack to Tania and back again. "What's going on?" She questioned, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. The two exchanged glances. "I'm not stupid. Something's wrong. Tell me now."

Tania looked over at Zack once more and when he nodded gravely she kneeled down speaking softly. "_Fortuno is ea id liber, __patrocinor__ is ea id liber, haud damnum volo advenio procul suus sua suum de Lucifer vel eius famulus__._" A soft glow surrounded the girl which went unnoticed by the two mortals.

"What was that?" Both siblings asked at almost the same time. Tania smirked and wiped the magical residue off her hands.

"Did you two practice that?" She asked with a laugh at the faces the two siblings made at each other.

"What did you do Tania?"

"A protection charm, but it only lasts for seven hours. It should wear off a little after 5 tomorrow."

"So now what?"

"I still don't understand." Emeline whined, looking between the two teenagers who were talking over her head.

Zack sighed, then got down to his sisters level. "Look, do you remember talking about the Sanderson sisters in school?"

"Emeline nodded. "Yeah. Miss Dennison tells us about them all the time. Winifred, Mary, and Sarah were witches that were hung for killing children. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Would you believe me if I told you they were back, ready to seek revenge on those that finished them off a long time ago?" Emeline scoffed and shook her head. It wasn't possible in her mind; after all it was just a legend.

Tania stopped looking around the square for signs of danger and turned her dark gaze upon the little girl. There was a flash of magic coursing through the older girl's iris, and like any normal human Emeline denied it as magic and thought it was just a trick of the light. "Those sisters don't have to do with anything." Tania stated after a pause. "They have to do with everything."

Emeline shook under the elder girl's gaze, but she felt slightly safe for some unknown reason. She clung to her older brother, fear starting to override what would be common sense. "Well then all we have to do is wait until midnight, like the legend states right?"

Both teens shook their heads. "I wish it were that simple, but this time it's different."

"This time?"

Zack laughed slightly remembering something. "Ask Miss Dennison about the Halloween of '93, she'll know."

The while they had been talking the three had made their way from the center of town toward the Milesius household. Tania opened the back door, her senses spread out over the whole property. Moving cautiously through the room to the other side by the hall, she flicked on the lights. The den transformed into a warm red.

"It's okay. No one is here." No one, she thought looking around worried. She felt warmth on her shoulder and saw his understanding assurance. She smiled at him and pushed the thought to the side, and moved to the pantry door.

Inside was a three by four foot room lined with many shelves each holding a multitude of items and sagging under their weight. There was one wall at the far end of the pantry that was bare except for a large cabinet built into the wall, and taking up at least one fourth of it. It was placed slightly higher than Tania's full height. She pulled the foot stool from beside the door right up in front of the cabinet. A pin pad was located at the top of the cabinet. Her finger tips flew across the worn out keys. When the pin was successfully entered she waited to press ENTER. Taking one of the many keys from her bracelet she turned the key into the socket and pressed the last button instantaneously. The door unsealed itself, allowing Tania pull open the door. Inside there were at least thirty small containers shelved each with their own label.

"Let's see…wings of a monarch, ashes of the Phoenix, fur of Chimera, claws of a black cat, stomach of fruit bat." With each name she handed Zack a bottle, finally she finished with 'lavender' six names later. "Stay here there's still one more item left."

"Are you sure? The witches are out there somewhere."

She nodded and shut the door behind her. Tania breathed out a sigh and moved down the dark hallway silently. Fay never kept the upper class ingredients in the pantry, but kept them hidden in a safe. The small fire box was located under a floor board in front of the door of her aunt's bedroom. Fay, however, used her magic over earth to make sure no one could get to the safe unnoticed.

_Though being unnoticed is not what I'm aiming for_. Her hands flashed cherry-red. When her palms hit the wood they immediately set the plank a flame. By soaking the edges of the plank she was able to control the flames path, as they did not catch so easily on wet wood. Tears formed in her eyes as the last of the wood released its smoke into the air. The Milesuis' did not have a smoke detector in their home, since both women were fire users. Now it was helpful considering all the smoke that rose to the ceiling. Coughing slightly, she pulled up the fire safe into her lap, and tugged the neck of her sweater over her nose and mouth. Soon her trusty pick was in the lock, moving around the gears gently until the safe clicked open. Beneath the door lay fifteen bottles snug in their own individual cells. These, unlike the ones downstairs, weren't labeled, and what she was looking for would be difficult to find.

"Think Tania, what did dragon scales look like?" Fay had only shown the stuff to her once.

_Their poison, Tania_ Fay's voice rang in her head. Usually that meant they were caution colors, a bright red or yellow.

"No there was something different about them." She pulled out a vial of sand, or what appeared to be sand.

"Dragon scale powder, a powerful substance."

"What-" but a hand was placed firmly over her mouth and giggling erupted from the far corner of the room. Tania's eyes widened as she stared at the three soulless creatures that looked exactly as they did 300 years ago.

"So the goody little witch finally dropped her guard…how naïve of you." Winifred Sanderson stood in front of Tania her inch long nail tapping against her chin thoughtfully. "You've given us a bit of a chase, but the gig is up." She all but shouted, and then she leaned in closer eye to eye. "Now where is my book?" Though her mouth was covered a smirk was prominent in Tania's eyes. "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH IT?" Winifred shrieked, panicked at what could have happened to her precious darling.

She wrenched her sister's hand away from Tania's mouth so she could speak. "I don't have it."

Winifred started, but then a thought came to her. "Yes…yes, the boy Thackery. He must have it. Where is he?" Tania didn't answer her face blank. Winifred scowled then ordered to her sisters. "Scour the house, find him!"

The Binx siblings stood no chance…unless… "Zack, Emeline run get out of here!" She was thrown back by her collar and hit her aunt's bed hard. With a groan she collapsed to the ground her legs unresponsive for critical seconds.

"You brat, I should have finished you off after I turned your little friend into a cat. You've been nothing but a thorn in my side for centuries, you and that council always looming over my head. Ingrates, the lot of you!"

A sickening crunch struck through the house as a fist collided with her face. Tania stood breathing heavily, her fist dripping slightly with the blood from the Sanderson's nose. Winifred whined and cursed in pain ranting about her beautiful face.

"Never compare me to the council elders, you withered ugly hag." She spat: stepping around the eldest sister, avoiding Mary on the stairs, and darting out the door. Halfway down the block she collided with a body. The person gripped her hard on her arms. Thinking the worst, Tania raised a fist ready to strike only to be stopped as she swung.

"Tania."

Relief flooded through her as she collapsed against Zack breathing hard, exhausted after the tussle with the eldest Sanderson. His arms wrapped around her holding her tight, so very afraid of what could have happened in that house. "Tania, don't you ever do that to me again."

When her breathing finally regulated she was reluctant to move from his arms, so she spoke. "Did you get the bag?"

Zack held her at arm's length. "Tania, is that all you care about? You could be dead right now. The witches despise you, and given half the chance they wouldn't hesitate –"

"I know, I know." She buried her face into his chest. Just for a few seconds she wanted it all gone. She wanted it to melt away. Zack sighed knowing that he would get no more on the subject.

"So…" A voice drawled out behind them. "Are you a couple yet, or what?"

That totally ruined the moment.

Tania pulled away from Zack hastily as her glared at his younger sister. "Definitely Emily, that one." She muttered, grabbing the bag from Zack's shoulder and putting the Dragon Scales within it. "We need to get out of here."

"Right." Zack pulled Emeline down the street quickly, followed by Tania as she looked back to the house, swearing she heard a screech of fury.

* * *

Latin Translation (extremely rough): _Bless this child, protect this child, no harm shall come to her from Lucifer or his servants.  
_I do not take Latin....at all. It was me going into a dictionary and picking out the words...that is all.

_-DD  
December 2, 2009_

_(c) Disney 1993_

* * *

__

_**INCASE YOU MISSED THE FIRST ONE: **  
IMPORTANT!! has **FINALLY **made a section for Hocus Pocus! WAHOO! Two weeks from tomorrow I will be moving this story into that section, I do not know what this will do to the Story Alerts, so please make note of this. If it doesn't do anything than were all good, if your alerts get deleted you now know where to find this story. Again, this story will be moving two weeks from tomorrow, Thursday, December 17th, 2009. _


	14. X

**_Just Anouther Reminder that One Week from this Thursday I will be Moving this story to the Hocus Pocus Archieve. _**

* * *

_Chapter X_

* * *

"So the ugliest things that ever lived are back, are they?" Dani Dennison spoke softly with Zack so as to not ruin the young witch's concentration. The two sat on the couch, with Emeline resting her head on her brother's lap. Tania stood in front of the stove, watching the simmering concoction with intense concentration. The three children had shown up on Dani's back porch not too long after midnight, having just run halfway across town to get there.

Zack nodded, watching as Tania slowly mouthed the counts as she stirred the simmering concoction. "This should get rid of them for good, and neither Tania nor I know of any other legends or spells that might cause them to return again."

"This potion should hopefully destroy their never ending lives, release them from Lucifer's contract, and allow them to move on." Tania stated, putting in her two cents and sprinkling the ginger over the surface of the mixture and then brought the flame to a bubbling boil. Exhaling heavily, she leaned against the table in the center of the large kitchen. "It should be fine like that for five minutes before adding the fruit bat stomach." She said in a sigh. All three mortals grimaced, of which Tania caught. "Be thankful it wasn't something worse."

Dani coughed, sounding strangely like 'Dead Man's Toe' giving the young witch a smile. "You must be great in the kitchen." The teacher complimented.

"Yes, quite ironic actually, I can't cook for the life of me."

"Well, it's a good thing you're going out with Zack then." Both teenagers turned red and sputtered, protesting loudly to the older woman, telling her that she had it wrong. They were just friends– only classmates, really. The _traditional_ things.

Dani only shook her head, and it was plain she wasn't buying any of it. Tania, still red, turned back to her potion and began slicing up the stomach with a cutlery knife on a worn wooden board. Zack went silent, looking anywhere but in Tania's direction. The room remained silent up until the moment Tania switched off the stove and began to cool the pot with a thick sheet of ice she created wrapped around it.

"What are we going to do about the last ingredient?"

"You mean that wasn't everything?"

Tania wiped her hands on a paper towel, looking thoughtful. "The last ingredient will have to be added as soon as we acquire some. Without the ashes too, the potion is null and void, it won't work. Adding it however isn't the problem, nor is figuring out where to get some. The trouble comes when we have to steal it from the sisters' own home. There will have to be a distraction."

"I'll do it." Zack offered firmly. Tania looked ready to protest, but he beat her to it. "Look, we need you to complete the potion and we need both you and Em to offer up the blood to finish the spell, right?" Reluctantly both Tania and Emeline, who had been told of her part earlier, nodded. "So that leaves me."

"I'll help him." Dani offered, but Tania shook her head.

"You've already fought your battle in this war."

"But so have all of you."

"_And we, the ones who began, must end._ That is the way of a witches' war, ones that can last a multitude of lifetimes. Every life will remember that a war must be fought."

"Is that why I can still remember my past life?" Tania confirmed his theory with a nod.

"Fine." Dani huffed and she grabbed her keys. "But I'm driving you there."

* * *

"Hey you ugly old hags!" Zachery Binx was standing on the exact same rafters that his past life stood upon 300 years ago and Max had seventeen years ago.

The ancient watermill had miraculously held up his weight as he climbed into the small window at the top. The window had been boarded up with rusted nails that were barely holding the planks to the side of the house. Wiggling the planks, the nails gave out with ease. He had crept through after placing the boards inside the house and out of the way. Over the edge of the rafters, Zack was able to see the three witches around the vicinity of the cauldron (as always). Within the cauldron was a simmering, tarlike mess, its rancid odor and smoke filling the cabin from ceiling to floor boards. Zack coughed and placed a hand over his mouth in a poor attempt to filter the air. Over Winifred's ranting, however, the sound went unnoticed.

"No…No, No, No. This isn't how 'twas done. If only I could remember." Her whining voice trembled loudly over the small house, drowning out the bubbles of the useless potion and the giggles of her youngest sister. "If only that little witch hadn't taken my book, I'd know the potion and we'd be sucking the lives out of all the children in Salem right now."

"Now, now Winnie." The middle sister Mary comforted. "We'll find her, and we'll force her to tell where she hid your book. Then…"

"Her life will be mine! Along with that new-bodied boy, Thackery Binx!"

It was then that Zack called out to them, grabbing the attention of all three sisters. Winifred boiled under her pale complexion, her face rising to meet the shade of her hair. Rounding on her sisters she shouted. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? AFTER HIM!"

Zack was already scrambling out the window again, dropping off the watermill to the bed of the dried creek. He wrenched open he iron gate, shouting "Drive, Dani, Drive!" He barely made it into the black Acura before Dani slammed on the gas.

Winifred Sanderson stood at her front porch, seething. "Sisters, grab the master's gifts, we fly." During their last visit to hell, Lucifer had bestowed upon them three new broomsticks. A much-needed gift, considering what happened to the last ones. The three witches took off, oblivious to the two pairs of eyes watching them from the shadows of the wood.

"Let's go." The two girls made their way into the old dimly lit house which was now lit with a multitude of candles. "Spread out, it shouldn't be that hard to find." While Emeline checked the cauldron for any spare ingredients trying not to breath in the rancid fumes, Tania moved to the back shelves. Fingertips ran over the dusty labels written in a spidery script. Tania scowled at a few of the potion ingredients; gagged at one or two, before she found what she was looking for. "Emeline, over here." She called to the younger girl as she picked up the vial of ashes. "This is it."

"Now what do you need with Ashes of Hell and Dragon Scales?" Zack Binx was thrown at their feet. His sister hurried to kneel beside him. Tania glared coldly at the three sisters.

"What did you do to him?"

Winifred laughed. "It was just a little shock." She giggled, lightning tickling over her fingertips.

Tania then noticed someone was missing. "Where's –"

"That woman? We didn't have any need of her. Her life is of no use to us, so one little shock and she was unconscious."

_At least they didn't kill her_, Tania thought. She knew full well that it would have taken more than a 'little shock' to knock out Dani. The three witches had not known that the woman was the same eight-year-old girl whose life they wanted to end seventeen years ago. If they did Dani would not have gotten away so easily.

"Well would you look at this… this situation looks familiar." Winifred taunted with a sick grin on her face as she gazed at her prey. "I seem to remember the girl being there." Tania quickly put a hand on Emeline's shoulder, cancelling out the elder witch's power. Winifred glared, but continued with her story. "Then you were right beside her, and you, little boy, were a monstrous creature."

Tania snorted. "I'd hardly call a cat a 'monstrous creature.'"

"You are in no position to be making sarcastic comments, girl." Winifred hissed.

Tania kept quiet when she felt the comforting squeeze on her ankle. She knelt down to Zack and gently brushed his hair away from his damp brow. As Winifred ranted in her victory Emeline snuck her hand into the bag around Tania's shoulder. The jar in her grasp she pulled it out. Tania unscrewed the lid and, with no chance to even attempt to measure it, dropped a decent amount of ashes into the jar.

"Um Winnie…"

"Not now, you fool." Winifred shouted, still basking in her conquest. Tania smirked at her overconfidence, as she shook the closed jar with a jerk of her wrist. The liquid turned slowly to a clear coloring. She shook Zack slightly and caught Emeline's eye. Both siblings nodded ever so slightly.

"We'll need a knife…" Tania muttered almost inaudible. Neither of the two heard her and it didn't matter at the moment. _We'll cross that gorge when we come to it._ She went into her bag again searching for a certain ingredient. Triumphant she pulled it out and dumped a load into her palm. With a shout that caught the sisters' attention she flung the black powder at them igniting it with the flames that covered the entire house. Quickly she covered Emeline and Zack with her body as it exploded.

The smoldering flames and smoke erupted everywhere: on clothes, the floors, the tables, and most importantly the three Sandersons. The three kids quickly moved to the back wall to avoid the spewing flames. After tearing the ingredients off the wall Zack shoved his body against the wood rot. The wall gave away to the fresh autumn air. The three children sprinted into the night, leaving the burning cabin and Lucifer's servants behind them.

* * *

_-DD  
December 10, 2009_

_(c) Disney 1993_

* * *

**_Just Anouther Reminder that One Week from this Thursday I will be Moving this story to the Hocus Pocus Archieve. _**


	15. XI

_Um...HI! So before you guys come try and hunt me down, I promise I have a good reason for being gone so long! This last chapter last year needed serious work even after being edited by my beta. So I basically re-wrote the entire ending, cause I wanted you guys to have the best I could give. And it took until about August for my beta and I to finished writing and editing the new ending. Since it had already been so long, I decided to post the last chapter to a Halloween movie fanfiction on Halloween. So here's the final part, thanks for waiting!_

* * *

_Chapter XI_

* * *

"What was that?" Zack gasped each breath a fight for oxygen.

Tania caught her breath before replying. "Gun Powder."

"Gun Powder? Gun powder that was an ingredient!"

Tania nodded, "some element of gun powder actually. Are you complaining? It came in handy."

"That it did." He agreed before his disposition changed. "We could have been killed!"

Tania gave him a wild grin of pure adrenaline. "But we weren't." She pointed out.

"We still might be." Emeline said in a small voice from where she sat in the dirt.

Tania lost her grin to seriousness and looked around at the woods surrounding them. "This is too closed off. The spell won't work here." She said with a skeptical glance at the trees barely four feet from each other.

Zack, too, observed the surrounding area. "What do you need exactly?"

Tania thought for a moment her eyes still scanning their current location. "A nice open field would be ideal, but just any open earthy area would do."

Zack looked up, an idea behind his eyes. "Would the school yard do?"

* * *

The last of the clear liquid poured onto the courtyard in front of James Bailey High School. Footsteps could be heard jogging lightly towards her. Tania looked up from her work to the two siblings coming towards her.

"Well?" She asked as they came closer.

"I could only turn the security off for an hour." Zack explained; tossing a belt of tools he had grabbed from his family's garage on the way to the school to the ground.

"That'll be enough." She glanced around the school yard and then back at the empty school. "Wasn't there supposed to be a dance tonight?"

Zack too looked to the dark gymnasium windows. "I heard that the school board was planning to move it to town hall instead, since the adult party was cancelled for some reason of another. I think they moved it because they didn't want the school to be trashed."

Tania forced out a laugh. Zack was trying to ease the insufferable tension in the air, but was failing miserably. It was Emily who finally asked, "How are we going to get the witches here?" Tania turned to the younger girl. The wings of her costume had long since been discarded, parts of the loose flowy material were torn or missing all together, and the parts that weren't were covered with Zack's Red Sox sweatshirt. She looked tired, any kid dragged around this late at night would have been. And any hopes of getting her high on sugar were left at the Milesuis household with her candy bag.

"Like this." Tania glanced at Zack. "Are we ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be."

She nodded and stood in front of the circle. With her hands straight out in front of her and her friends beside her she released a surge of pure magical power into the air creating a static atmosphere around the three children. The surge spread out like radar, or a ripple in a pond, going farther and farther out until it faded. Anyone with magical awareness could feel the call of a witch to her enemies, but they did not react knowing it was not for them. The surge spread out over the entire town, reaching past the state capital sixteen miles away. Without a doubt the Sandersons felt the call, and without a doubt they didn't think twice about it.

"What marvelous prey we have sisters." Winifred cackled, Mary bonding to the right and Sarah to the left encircling the three. Emeline buried into her brother's arms fear across her eyes. "Yes, you should be afraid Emily, we've killed thee once and we shall do so again!" Winifred shouted as her decrepit fingers inched toward the girl.

"Zack!" Tania called in urgency as Winifred pressed closer in on them.

"Right." The boy muttered, dropping down quickly to scourge through the bag still at their feet. With a triumphant look he pulled out the can of salt and shook it threateningly.

Winifred backed off for now, but still the brooms encircled the children, a lioness waiting for her prey. "Salt! You have taught these mortals well, Tania Miles. Far too well, does the council approve?" Winifred jeered a false smile crawling across her face. "Or does the council even care for a quarter magic folk like you?"

Tania spat at the ground in the witches direction. "I'd rather be a half-breed then be an ugly Lucifer-worshipping cretin like you."

Winifred gasped with a horrified look upon her face. She glanced around hurriedly as though expecting the devil himself to rise from the ground at the sound of his name. "You dare speak the master's name?" She screeched in disbelief.

Tania shrugged nonchalant. "When your best friend's an angel the habit rubs off." She said with a slight smirk in her voice.

The sisters, well Winifred, were becoming blinded by rage toward the young witch. And history has shown that when the sisters become blind, they cannot see the outcomes. They could not decipher what may be the outcome of this night. Tania was using this to her advantage. She hoped to lure the three to the ground and to their doom. Mary swooped down in an attempt to grab the youngest of the three, but she was thwarted by Tania and Zack who shielded Emeline, shoving the young girl behind them and out of reach. Winifred was reaching the peak of her frustration.

"Sarah! Sing a little song for the children." And hence begun the song of the siren.

"Don't listen to them!" Zack shouted over the youngest Sanderson, his hands under Emeline's own covering her ears. His own ears remained uncovered, but his face was screwed in concentration trying to think about anything other than the song.

_He need not worry_, Tania thought as she heard the words she last heard in her dreams 317 years ago. She, a witch just as they, remained unaffected by the sounds instead focusing her attention on the three witches as a whole. The last time they had sung the song in Tania's presence it had been a distraction to invoke their twin curses. Tania would not be so easily fooled again. Any children within a mile would be drawn to Sarah Sanderson, but Zack and Tania on the doorstep of adulthood and any other teenager would remain oblivious to the enchanting magic. Concerned Tania allowed her attention to draw from the sisters to Emeline, the only one of their small party that would be entranced.

The younger girl's eyes were wide and slightly confused, but her eyes were still attentive to all that was around her. "Emeline, what's wrong?" She shook almost out of a trance when she heard her name. Tania gave her a quizzical look and she turned her gaze back to Sarah.

"I…remember that song from somewhere."

Tania nodded; it was not uncommon for humans to have small remembrances of their past lives. For Emeline to have remembered the song that brought Emily to her death was no surprise. _Then again_, Tania wondered as she stared curiously at the younger girl, _how is she able to hear the song and not be effected by it_? Curiosity seeped into her veins but Tania knew that now wasn't the time to delve into such a topic. So she made a mental note to ask Fay about it later, where ever she was…

"Tania Look Out!"

The warning came too slowly. As Tania spun into a defensive position it all seemed to be moving like a film, frame by frame. Pain shot into her lower back directly at her spinal cord. She lost most feeling in the lower half of her body temporarily, but such a critical a time.

"Tania." The Binx siblings' guards were dropped at the felling of their friend, and at a time when it meant certain doom.

"No." Tania let out a tortured whisper in vain. Emeline, during the few precious seconds when no one, including Emeline herself, was her guard, was taken captive by the three witches.

Mary held the girl kicking and screaming with a triumphant little smile. "Now then, the girl's life for my book." Winifred dealt the first hand, but Tania had a trick up her sleeve.

"No deal! _Incendo_!" _Brooms not lives, brooms not the girl_. She thought desperately as the flames erupted on the tails of the broomsticks, but through the flames Tania could see that the blackened straw would not burn. _Fine then let's turn up the heat._ And with a temperature half that of the Earth's star the broom sticks went up in smoke. Tania quickly released the spell, should they all perish from the intense heat that no human or witch would be able to endure.

"Argh!" The witches fell to the earth hopping off the brooms, screeching loudly. With her captors distracted Emeline tried to inch away from the three sisters. "Oh no you don't you little brat!" Winifred reached out one of her clawed hands as she grabbed Emeline by the collar.

"Let me go you freak!"

"What did you say you little brat!" Winifred gripped her talons around the little girl's throat just waiting for an excuse to rip it out. Emeline only glared at the old hag and stuck her tongue out. "I'll rip that vermin out of your mouth."

Zack grew in panic at the sight of the danger that his little sister faced. "Tania the spell!"

Winifred, upon hearing him call out to the other witch, turned in interest toward the two teenagers. "Spell?" She asked innocently. "What spell?"

Neither teen would say a word and Tania began to form the first of the thirteen hand signs: Left flat horizontal, right flat vertical, crisscross, down right ring, down right middle. The first sign completed. "_Infinitaria_." Tania muttered with her hands still folded in the first sequence. Zack glanced at his…friend. She seemed almost uncertain when early that…well morning she had been confident that this would work.

Winifred Sanderson looked on slightly intrigued by the young witch. Then almost instantly a maniacal grin slid across her face. "I see what you are up to girl." When she spoke she immediately got Tania's attention, though the young witch did not show any sign of being bothered by the woman. "I can see why you are hesitating."

At this Tania flinched and Winifred knew she had Tania's attention. Winifred tapped her fingers across Emeline's throat. Determined Tania completed the second hand sign: two fists, interlocking pinkies, interlocking rings, thumbs to rings. "_Peto_." In the next second she repeated the first sequence and word again, but then hesitated.

"Well, aren't you going to destroy us?"

Something in the ancient witch's carefree tone struck something within Zack. Turning to his friend he asked, "Tania why –?"

She shook her head rapidly, and bit her lip worried as she looked on at the four, specifically Emeline. Touching her palms, crossing ring and middle, pinkies placed inward, pointed pointers touching, and thumbs flat against the others she created the fourth sequence. "_Eradico_." Tania's voice shook slightly; however, her eyes darted from Winifred to Emeline rapidly. Her hands shook as the folded right below her heart. "_Necto__Pactum_." She whispered eyes now only on Winifred the determined spark lit back in her daring eyes. If her gaze wandered down to Emeline or up to Zack she would lose all resolve.

Zack gazed confused slightly, mind reeling and trying to figure things out. Tania could not answer any of his questions for any word not spoken in the dead language might catastrophically affect the spell. The fifth sequence: Downward pointed middle, remaining digits curled, palms apart, thumbs apart. "_Nam_." Her voice uttered strongly, but it was still only uttered. The two hands unfolded and rested with the right atop the left. "_Irritus_."

Winifred's grip tightened on Emeline's throat, anxiety flashed across her face. _The goody couldn't do it, she wouldn't. _It would risk the life of the girl that Winifred now had at the palm of her hands. But Tania, even knowing this, had already past the halfway mark. A few more signs and well placed words, and everything would be over for the Sandersons…and for Emeline Binx as well.

"_Te_." Right pinky, right ring overlapping left, left pointer, left middle over lapping right, left thumb tucked, right thumb jutted out. "_Liberatio_." Thumbs crossed right over left, palm and balls of hands together, fingers spread out and far as they can. "_Vestra_." A sign that were identical to 'te' but the thumbs of the hands were reversed.

The two younger sisters huddled around the eldest, unable to leave the circle of potion, fear plain as day on their faces. "Winnie, will she stop?"

"Of course she'll stop, you fools." Winifred barked her eyes drilled on Tania. "If she wants the girl to survive."

Zack didn't fail to hear this. In shock he turned to Tania. "They don't mean… nothing can hurt her right? You put that spell on Em."

Tania closed her eyes tightly wishing she could put her hands over her ears to block out the wavering voice of her long time friend. No matter how this ended, he would hate her for this. "_Animus_." The word was chocked out: right hand fist, first two fingers over the fist, thumbs crossed left over right. It was perhaps one of the simpler signs, but for Tania it remained the hardest to perform.

"Tania!"

There were tears in her eyes now as she reopened them to see the four trapped within the barrier, one unintentional victim. It was true, Emeline was protected, but Tania wasn't a servant of Lucifer. Winifred saw that now was the time to attack the young witch's conscience if the Sanderson sisters ever wanted to survive.

"You would never really destroy this girl that you care so much about. To take away her life again, even though she was like a little sister to you all those years ago? Or perhaps to you it was only a matter of months." Yes, contrary to popular belief, Winifred Sanderson was intelligent. She did not fail to notice the time aura around Tania. "If you complete the spell of destruction, you destroy her as well." Winifred gripped Emeline's chin, creating a pouting face. "Would Tania Miles really do that?"

"_Remaneo_!" Tania shouted slightly with her hands in the matching sign: right open palm in front of left open palm.

The circle flowed sliver then returned to being translucent on the grass. A shield would be up in only two more signs, trapping the victims completely. No one can get in, no one can get out.

"I guess so." Winifred mocked, but still a little panicked all the same.

Zack couldn't even approach Tania her emotions and aura going completely nuts. "Tania!" He called to her, but as her wish she could no longer hear him.

"_Addo_." Her voice had dropped to a deadpan tone.

Winifred looked at her almost…disappointed. "I guess you are just like the council after all."

But Tania didn't hear her; all of her focus was on Emeline. The fear in the young girl's eyes was real, but so was the dead stare. The feel of the cold skin beneath Tania's fingers as she attempted in vain to heal Emily Binx, but it was too late. The fear in Emeline's, Emily's, Emeline's, Emily's, Emeline's eyes: a fear of her.

"I can't." She let out a tortured sob, her hands dropped to her sides, her knees shaking as they gave out not for the first time that night. The older witches grip on their prisoner loosened for they knew that nothing could restart the spell again, save a miracle. Their job lay to waste, and Tania Milesuis would not get a second chance.

Zackary Binx, on the other hand, had other plans. With a mad dash only a person being chased by the demons of hell could produce he tackled his younger sister away from the four witches and out of the circle. "Tania, FINISH THIS!"

Tania looked at him, his courage, his confidence that this would work, that she could make this work. A hand sign was repeated and the barrier was up as soon as "_magis_" left her lips. There was no more escape.

Winifred stood stunned. No witch, and not this Tania Milesuis, could restart a spell of destruction after a failed attempt. She glanced back at the reincarnation of the mangy feline; _there is something about that boy,_ she mused. _It might have even been before I cursed him. _It didn't matter; Winifred Sanderson was never going to find out. The last sign, the last word was spoken clearly and firmly. "_Vulnero_."

There was no fireworks, no large explosions; the three witches didn't even turn to dust as they did the last resurrection. They were simply gone. The three kids walked slowly up to where the circle was. A large circle of grass was completely burnt and thoroughly soaked.

The three were silent for a few moments while the weight of what they'd accomplished fully settled onto their weary minds. The winds of the coming winter faltered until they calmed into a soothing breeze that warmed their fear-frozen hearts. All Hallows' Eve was over once again until the next coming year.

"So it's over? Is that –"

Tania placed her hand flat against his lips, keeping the words at bay and staring into his eyes, the weariness of the past few years easily seen on her features despite the lack of light.

"Don't jinx us, Zack. Is it not enough that it is finally over?"

"You won't have to look over your shoulder anymore." His thumb brushed over the cracks of weariness crowding her eyes. "You can leave all this behind you." His hand dropped.

"And I will." She spoke with assurance. "I'm so tired of living in the past. I'm done with it. The Sanderson sisters will have no further effect on my life."

Zack nodded in complete understanding; he, too, had had enough to do with the poltergeist witches that had haunted his past life and had since invaded his present one. However, it was a sad fact that to separate fully from their paranoid nightmare of a past, they would have to separate from each other. The magic of the Sandersons had ruled their lives for far too long.

"You can't want magic in your life anymore." Zack raised a brow as she said this. Tania sighed, "Don't look at me as though you weren't thinking the same thing. I wouldn't blame you if you were sick of magic at this point. I know I am."

"It's part of who you are, isn't it?"

"So?" She asked bitterly. "I'm sick of it. I don't want to deal with any of this anymore. The Sandersons are just one piece of the problem. I can walk away from this life easily."

"Does that mean we won't be your friends anymore?" Tania looked down at Emeline confused. "Are you going to leave?"  
"What?" Tania smiled slightly. "Are you afraid I'm going to leave?"

Emeline nodded, "Zack, too."

"Zack doesn't want me to leave either?"

"No, it's easy to tell." Emeline looked over at her brother, who had begun to glare at her. Emeline stuck out her tongue at him before turning back to Tania. "His face is turning red right now."

Tania smirked, but she did not turn around to see if it was true. "I've spent my whole life," she began, "living in the mountain area of Pennsylvania, but I've spent the past year wishing I was somewhere else. Do you know where that is?"

Emeline shook her head.

"It's right here in this town." Tania rubbed her hand over Emeline's hair. "I'm not going anywhere any time soon."

"Why not?" Zack inquired, interrupting the two girls.

"Maybe I want to make a new path and see if I can have a better ending to a life in this town." She said, finally turning to him, his face now clear of any extra color. "But then again, maybe I'm the only one that wants to try and redo that ending."

"I doubt it." Zack smiled at her, then pulled Emeline close. "How 'bout a piggy back ride, Em?"

Emeline crossed her arms looking obstinate. "I'm too old for piggy back rides, and I'm not tired."

Zack winked at Tania, who shared his knowing smile, and he said, "Well, if you're sure."

Emeline hesitated for a moment, her attachment to childhood battling against her want to be treated like a grown-up. When Zack started to walk away she ran and hugged him from behind. Zack ruffled her hair and picked her up onto his back. Emeline wrapped her small arms around his neck securely as she had always done.

Tania looked on at the loving brother and sister together again, after once being wrenched apart, and who would remain together for a long time yet. She had begun to trail behind the pair when Zack looked back at her expectantly. He held out his hand to her, and she smiled as she took it.

"Tania." Zack spoke when he could feel Emeline's breath even out on his neck.

"Hm?"

"Did you mean it when you said you were sick of magic?"

Tania remained silent for a moment, contemplating the weight of the truth in her earlier statement. "Yes," she said, "I did mean it. I don't want any more magic in my life."

"But it's a part of who you are."

"I know, but I've been contemplating this for a long time now, even before I went to the 17th century. I want to give my magic up; I want that more than just about anything. And though it kills me that the council will in some way win, it will be worth it."

"So you'd give up a key part of yourself, just like that?"

Tania sighed heavily. "It's not as though I would do it on a whim. I've given a lot of thought to the idea. I think the only reason that I haven't relinquished my magic already is because I had a responsibility to make sure that the Sanderson sisters were thoroughly taken care of."

"What about others like them? What if there are more cases like what happened before?"

"It's not my job to take out witches that misuse their power. I'm not a superhero. I'm just an ordinary witch, please understand that. Do you want me to keep these powers, this title as a witch?"

Zack looked away from her, and then his face became resigned. "It's your choice, you're right, but I guess it's just a comforting thought that there's a witch out there who doesn't abuse her powers in any way, someone who likes humans, protects them when she can, and is….well….like you. You're special, even from those other magical beings out there."

"Zack," Tania said in a soft tone as if she had sudden epiphany, "are you sure that I'm not just special to you?"

"Of course you're special to me, but that's not the point –" Zack stopped, and went slightly red as Tania gave him a small smile. "Like I don't mean the same to you." He insisted, attempting to gain some even ground. This, however, only caused Tania to grin.

"Oh no, I don't give out information lightly."

Zack moved to nudge her, but she moved out of his reach, looking back at him laughing. Her laughter suddenly stopped and her eyes grew wide, not with fear but shock and embarrassment.

"Elijah." Tania whispered, barely making a sound and heard only by Zack. He turned around, surprised at seeing his best friend of two lifetimes watching them with several others that Zack usually shared companionship with.

"Yo Ethan!" Zack called in greeting. "What's up?"

"What's up?" Ethan repeated. "'What's up' he asks. Gee, I don't know Zack, the sky, the birds, the planes, you and Milesuis acting like lovebirds!" Ethan's voice transcended in decibel as he went on. Zack shrugged it off while Tania rolled her eyes; they both decided to ignore his jeers for the moment.

"Just what are you doing with toilet paper rolls?" Tania asked acting, once again, like the perfect law-abiding citizen.

"Teepeeing houses, it's Halloween, what else?" Ethan argued sarcastically, and then shook his head. "But that's beside the point, are you two an item or what?"

Zack, having already admitted how he felt, looked at Tania with question. Tania winked at him before shrugging and saying, "Yeah, what of it?"

The majority of the marauders were stupefied, but Ethan, insistent, began to complain. "'What of it' she says, as if it wasn't one of the most shocking pieces of news our high school has had to date." The couple in question rolled their eyes at the exaggeration. "Do you not know of the gushing I've had to deal with from Zack since you moved here? It was one complaint after another; he acted like a girl! All because he had a crush on you, and now you're telling me that you two are together like it's no big deal? Do you care at _all _about my suffering?"

Tania looked at him contemplating. "Not really, no."

Ethan schooled his expression to an impassive mask. "You are a cruel woman, Milesuis. What you see in her, Zack, I have no idea." Zack smiled at this and looked at Tania in admiration. This action did not pass under Ethan's radar. "Egh, enough. If you like her that much just kiss her already."

Tania's gaze quickly covered up the surprise with a piercing look; Zack, on the other hand, didn't have as much luck. It took him a moment to finally articulate words.

"First off, now and here? Second off, in case you haven't noticed my little sister is on my back."

"And third off, how would you know if we've even reached that stage in our….relationship?" The word was harder to say aloud than she thought it would be.

"Oh please, Milesuis. I can give you a lot of reasons: he knew your nickname before anyone else, you always seem to be personally offended whenever Zack does something stupid as though you know he could do better, and you both act like you've know each other for years rather than just a month and a half. I know that you two have met before; I would even bet on you two having a relationship before."

Zack and Tania, who couldn't hid her shock this time, stared at Ethan as though he'd suddenly grown another head.

"I don't know when, seeing as I've known Zack our entire lives, but I knew from the first day, when you both looked at each other in surprise and didn't tear away until Milesuis sat down, that you two had a past."

"Wow," Tania finally said, "I hate to admit it, but Ethan, you're observant."

"Tania –"

"Zack, I told you before that I don't care anymore." About the magic or its rules, she left out.

"Good, now that we're all on the same page, will you please do me a favor, Milesuis, and just kiss him?"

"Ethan –"

"Fine."

Zack looked down at her in surprise.

"I'm not doing this because of him. I'm doing this because I've wanted to for a very long time." With that she pressed her lips to his with fervor, and he had to retain immense focus not to drop the sleeping girl on his back as he placed his hand which had before held Tania's into her hair. The two ignored the jeers and cat calls of the teenage boys, but neither could ignore the one small voice.

"Does this mean you're my sister now?"

The two tore apart, gaping at Emeline who, quite amused, had been watching. Tania got over the interruption enough to register the question that had been asked.

"No, Emeline, it doesn't."

"At least not yet." Zack whispered to his disappointed sister, causing a stern look to come from his girlfriend.

"Zack, _high school_."

"We have all the time in the world, now."

* * *

Zack and Tania quickly left the group to their teepeeing after that, and traveled on to the Binx residence as Tania insisted on dropping them off at their home rather than the other way around.

"Zachary Thaniel Binx!"

Unfortunately for them, the Binx parents were up waiting for their children.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Uh, no actually."

"Well….neither do we, something went wrong with all of the clocks last night, very peculiar, but that's not the point. You should know better than to have your sister out this late."

"Sorry mom, Em and I just lost track of time I guess."

"That's no excuse, young man." Mrs. Binx berated him firmly. It was only then that she noticed Tania, half in the shadows from the porch light. "And who is this?"

"Tania Milesius, ma'm."

"Tania, like the old Halloween story. Well, I would suspect that your family it just as worried about you."

"Yes, I imagine I'll be in trouble with Aunt Fay." _Though_, Tania thought, _in trouble for the damage to the floor rather than the hour. _

"My husband can give you a ride home, dear."

"No, that's alright. It's not that far from here." Tania moved to leave. "I'll see you in school, Zack. Tell Emeline I wished her sweet dreams." And she was gone with one last smile into the shadows as Zack stared after her.

"Zack, wasn't that the girl I met last week in the museum?"

"Yeah."

"The one that was 'just a classmate'?"

"Okay," Zack admitted sheepishly, "maybe she was more than a classmate, but she wasn't more than a good friend until tonight."

"Didn't you just meet this girl only a month ago?"

"It's not like that. Have you ever – when you met Dad, did it feel like you had already known him before?" Mrs. Binx only smiled. "Well, it's like that. I guess I feel like a past life had finally caught up with me, and now everything is going to be alright from now on."

"Oh, Zack." Mrs. Binx sighed. "Go to bed, dear. And your father says you're grounded for a week."

Zack didn't even argue about it, and gently put his younger sister in her bed.

"You don't have anything to be afraid of, now." He whispered to her sleeping form. "You can live out your life, now. We all can."

* * *

Fay shook her head at the way her niece came dancing through the door.

"I assume by the way the clocks have stopped spinning that the sisters are gone for good?"

"Yup, my work is done."

"And I assume from the freaky smile on your face that you and Zack have reconciled?"

"Everything is wonderfully wonderful."

"You do realize you're grounded?" Fay called up the stairs after her niece.

"Yup. Sorry about the floor boards."

Fay shook her head again, hoping that Tania would be slightly more herself tomorrow, and moved toward the kitchen. Then Tania's voice came from the upper landing.

"Oh, and by the way, I'm giving up my magic!" Her blithe laughter at the newly discovered freedom and relief because she was making this choice could be heard throughout the entire house.

* * *

_Latin Translation (extremely roughly): "Fire"; Spell of Destruction - "Powers seek. Powers destroy. Binding contract now no more. I release your spirits. Move on. Cause no more harm."_  
_I do not take Latin...at all. It was me going into a dictionary and picking out the words...that is all_

_This is the end, I'm not sure what I'm going to do next. If you have any questions feel free to review or message them and I'll message back. I'm going to miss writing about Tania and Zack, seeing my betas lovely pictures with her edits, and seeing my beta leave all star comments whenever I would write out LINE for section breaks on the rough copies. Thank you all for reading this story, and to those that waited thank you for sticking to it until the end, even if I did take forever. I've finally completed a story and I thank all that stuck with me: readers, reviewers, and my extremely awesome beta. _

_I don't own Hocus Pocus, though I did buy the DVD recently! _

_-DD_  
_October 31, 2010_  
_ended: October 25, 2008 at 11:34 p.m._

_© Disney 1993  
_

* * *

_Fin_


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